A second vaccine revolution for the new epidemics of the 21st century

Non-communicable, chronic diseases are currently the major cause of death and disability worldwide, and many of these maladies have reached epidemic proportions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) these disorders, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity and cancer, now account for about half of the global disease burden as well as deaths worldwide. The WHO identifies comparatively few risk factors, namely smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, as the cause of many of these chronic conditions. A new class of medicines, based on vaccine approaches, are now in clinical trials and hold significant promise to treat both risk factors and their associated chronic diseases.