GSK's herpes vaccine candidate fails to meet primary efficacy objective

Drugmaker GSK said on Wednesday that primary objective data analysts from a phase II trial of its early-stage therapeutic herpes simplex virus vaccine candidate showed that the drug had failed to meet its primary efficacy objective.

GSK said this vaccine candidate, therefore, will not progress to phase III studies but noted the TH HSV REC-003 study will continue for routine safety monitoring and to generate follow-up data that could offer valuable insights into recurrent genital herpes.

"Given the unmet medical need and burden associated with genital herpes, innovation in this area is still needed. GSK intends to evaluate the totality of all these data and other studies to progress future research and development of its HSV programme," added GSK.

As of 0845 BST, GSK shares were down 0.96% at 1,655.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com