After Nine Years, Oral Spray UTI Vaccine Remains Highly Effective

A recent study presented at the European Association of Urology Congress shared the initial findings of the first long-term follow-up study on the safety and effectiveness of the Uromune™ (MV140) inactivate vaccine for recurrent Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs).

The results, announced on April 6, 2024, indicate that 54% of study participants, including men and women with recurrent UTIs, remained UTI-free for nine years after receiving the vaccine.

Furthermore, no notable side effects were reported.

MV140 is administered with two sprays of a pineapple-flavored suspension under the tongue every day for three months. It contains four bacterial species: whole-cell inactivated bacteria, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, and Enterococcus faecalis.

While researchers have previously studied MV140's short-term safety and effectiveness, this is the first long-term follow-up study to report globally.

The study was carried out by clinicians at the UK's Royal Berkshire Hospital and included 89 patients initially treated at The Urology Partnership Reading.

Dr Bob Yang, Consultant Urologist at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, who co-led the research, commented in a press release, "Before having the vaccine, all our participants suffered from recurrent UTIs, and for many women, these can be difficult to treat. Around half of the participants remained infection-free nine years after first receiving this new UTI vaccine."

"Overall, this vaccine is safe in the long term, and our participants reported having fewer, less severe UTIs. Many of those who got a UTI told us that drinking plenty of water was enough to treat it."

"This is a very easy vaccine to administer and could be given by GPs as a 3-month course. Many of our participants told us that having the vaccine restored their quality of life. While we're yet to look at the effect of this vaccine in different patient groups, this follow-up data suggests it could be a game changer for UTI prevention if it's offered widely, reducing the need for antibiotic treatments."

According to the U.S. CDC, UTIs are the most common bacterial infection, experienced by half of all women and various older men.

Recurrent infections, needing short-term antibiotic treatment, develop up to 30% of cases.

These researchers wrote that as antibiotic-resistant UTIs increase and drugs become less effective, new ways of preventing and treating these infections are needed.

For their nine-year follow-up study, the researchers analyzed data from the electronic health records of their original 2017 cohort.

Forty-eight participants remained entirely infection-free during the nine-year follow-up.

The average infection-free period across the cohort was 54.7 months, 56.7 months for women, and 44.3 months, one year less, for men.

And 40% of participants reported having repeat vaccine doses after one or two years.

Developed by the Madrid-based Immunotek S.L., MV140 was tested in 2012 and is now available off-license in about 26 countries, but not the United States.