cholera vaccine (oral, inactivated)

OraVacs is an oral, enteric-coated capsule vaccine developed for the prevention of cholera and infectious diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic *Escherichia coli* (ETEC). The formulation consists of inactivated whole cells of *Vibrio cholerae* O1 (including both classical and El Tor biotypes) combined with a recombinant cholera toxin B subunit (rBS). Unlike the liquid suspension formulation of the similar vaccine Dukoral, OraVacs is delivered as a capsule, which protects the active components from gastric acid without the need for a bicarbonate buffer solution. The vaccine induces mucosal and systemic immunity by eliciting secretory IgA and systemic IgG antibodies against the cholera toxin and bacterial lipopolysaccharides. Due to the structural similarity between the cholera toxin B subunit and the heat-labile toxin (LT) of ETEC, the vaccine provides cross-protective efficacy against ETEC-induced traveler's diarrhea. It has been evaluated in Phase 4 clinical trials in China for the prevention of non-cholera infectious diarrhea in pediatric populations.

Brand names

OraVacs

Other names

oral recombinant B subunit/bacterial cholera vaccinerBS/WC vaccinerecombinant cholera B subunit + bacterial whole-cell vaccineWC/rBS vaccine