Safety and immunogenicity of an investigational adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine (HB-AS02V) in healthy adults

HB-AS 02 is an investigational adjuvanted hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine for potential use in patients with renal insufficiency and other immunocompromised individuals. In this Phase III lot-to-lot consistency study, 450 healthy adult volunteers who had not previously been vaccinated against HBV were randomized to one of three production lots of HB-AS 02 at 0 and 1 month and followed until one month after the last vaccine dose. Lot-to-lot consistency was established. High seroprotection rates were already achieved after the first vaccine dose (75.9%). All subjects were seroprotected (anti-HBs antibody concentrations >= 10 mIU/ml) after two doses, with all but one subject achieving anti-HBs antibody concentrations >= 100 mIU/ml (99.7%). Geometric mean anti-HBs antibody concentration was 4594.5 mIU/ml. Local and general symptoms were reported after 80.7 and 45.5% of doses, respectively. However, these were mainly of mild or moderate severity and no subject withdrew from the study due to adverse events.