AAHI has long supported development of a Chagas vaccine, licensing recombinant proteins and its GLA-SE adjuvant formulation to support research and development and upcoming clinical trials.

AAHI collaborates to provide protection against chagas disease.

The WHO’s goal is to eliminate transmission of Chagas disease in fifteen of the forty-one currently affected countries by 2030. In alignment with this goal, AAHI is collaborating to support development of a Chagas vaccine candidate that combines a recombinant T. cruzi protein, Tc24-C4, with AAHI’s GLA-SE adjuvant formulation. The vaccine candidate is expected to enter the clinic in 2023.  

About Chagas Disease

Chagas disease is caused by the feces of the triatomine bug found in the tropics of Latin America and Mexico, which contains a life-threatening parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi.  Outbreaks of Chagas disease are common in areas without adequate sanitation, given that infection can be caused by simple contact or accidental consumption of contaminated food or water.  People exposed to T. cruzi may suffer chronic heart, digestive, and neurological conditions.  The disease is curable if treatment is administered soon after infection, yet in 2017, ten thousand people died of Chagas disease. Somewhere between six and seven million people are estimated to be currently infected, and an additional seventy-five million people are at risk of being infected.