132207A novel prophylactic vaccine and delivery platform to prevent Clostridium difficile infectionsClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKC. difficile infection (CDI) causes severe diarrhoea in hospital patients after treatment with broad-spectrumantibiotics. CDI can be successfully treated with specific antibiotics, but infection and diarrhoea re-occurs in upto 3 out of 10 patients and on average 2 of these will die. A vaccine could prevent CDI but none is currentlyavailable. The vaccines currently in clinical trials use inactive C. difficile toxins to generate an immune responsebut not all patients respond. Two UK companies, Absynth and Prokarium, are collaborating to create the firstoral vaccine against CDI. The vaccine is based on combining a safe living bacterium already tested in clinicaltrials, with novel vaccine antigens that offer a non-toxin based approach with potentially broader protectionagainst disease. The vaccine delivered to the site of infection, will target the colonising bacteria, so infectioncould be prevented and those vaccinated are unlikely to become asymptomatic carriers. After this Innovate UKsupported project, the companies hope to gain additional investment to progress the vaccine into clinicaltrials