Science / Medicine : Contraceptive Vaccine May Be Tested in 2 Years

A contraceptive vaccine that causes a woman to become immune to sperm may be ready for testing on humans within two years, according to immunologist John C. Herr of the University of Virginia. Herr and his colleagues have created a vaccine based on a protein, called SP-10, found only in sperm. The vaccine causes the female immune system to develop antibodies that block conception by preventing the sperm from fertilizing the female egg.

Herr said that in tests on rabbits, hamsters and baboons, the vaccine was able to prevent eggs from being fertilized. Unlike many pharmaceutical contraceptives, the vaccine contains no hormones, which often produce side effects.

Herr said he already has consulted with the Food and Drug Administration and plans to start more extensive trials on laboratory baboons in April. If those studies go well, then human trials could begin as early as 1993, he said.

Herr said part of the baboon tests will be to determine how long the immunity lasts. He said the goal was to develop a vaccine that would be long lasting but reversible; that would have a low failure rate, that could be manufactured at a low cost, and that could be injected just as other vaccines are now delivered.