Our research into chlamydia in koalas is part of an ongoing body of work that commenced in the 1980s. We have developed a research grade vaccine that shows initial promise based on ten published studies to date.

UniSC is committed to this nationally important program of work and we have invested millions of dollars to support koala research over the last decade. We are proud to be at the forefront of developing new knowledge in this quest to save our iconic koala species.

The work of Professor Peter Timms and his team is outstanding and has been acknowledged in many scientific forums and prestigious publications globally.

He is widely acknowledged as a national and international authority on chlamydia infection and disease and has published over 200 independently refereed scientific papers on chlamydial research in humans and animals, including koalas.

Are we currently testing the vaccine on wild koala populations?

No. Our vaccine is not currently being used as our manufacturing partner is in the process of producing a high-quality Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) approved standard batch of the vaccine. When this is ready it will be tested for safety and immunogenicity, initially in healthy koalas. If it passes this test, it will then be evaluated fully in a group of wild koalas for safety, immune and protective response.

Where we are up to now?

We are continuing to collect evidence and present it to the APVMA, via our Australian industry partner, to better understand the effectiveness of the vaccine in different koala populations. We are continuing to refine the vaccine to make sure it is as effective as possible.

The APVMA approved a Minor Use Permit on the basis of their initial assessment.

Re-analysing our data

Our recent study in NPJ Vaccines went through rigorous review by at least three external peer reviewers before publication and is based on an analytic approach recommended by an external biostatistics group. Since publication we have found minor errors in the data and these have been acknowledged and corrected, and the journal informed of this.

We have recently taken a conservative approach and removed some data points and reanalysed the data. Our preliminary analysis using this new approach still shows a significant difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated koalas in reducing the development of disease.

In addition, while it still shows a trend that indicates the vaccine protects from death, this is no longer statistically significant due to the reduced sample size.

This new analysis will go through a subsequent review process by the journal and we have informed the NPJ Vaccines journal that our data assessment is underway.

The role of universities and partners

We recognise the important role of universities being involved in the development of vaccines that have a crucial role, but no commercial market. We are one of several universities working on the development of a koala chlamydia vaccine and we wish them all success in addressing this crucial issue.

We would not have progressed to this groundbreaking stage in the development of this research without the support of external partners over many years including competitive grants from federal and state government, as well as philanthropists.