
Pharmaceutical giant GSK is planning to research whether, as a scientific paper published earlier this week suggests, its meningitis B vaccine offers some protection against gonorrhea.
What form the work will take and how quickly it will happen isn’t yet clear; it’s still early days, a buoyant Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist for GSK Vaccines, told STAT in an interview.
But Rappuoli said he could envisage the company, once armed with more data, seeking approval to extend use of the vaccine, Bexsero, to combat gonorrhea while exploring ways to create a 2.0 version with even greater effectiveness against this sexually transmitted infection for further down the road.
Any gonorrhea vaccine will not be 100% reliable. Better to give yourself 1.2 million units of Procaine Penicillin G in each thigh before you go out with a new date. Will also cover you for syphillis.