Hepatitis B third-generation vaccines: improved response and conventional vaccine non-response--third generation pre-S/S vaccines overcome non-response.

A new triple-S containing recombinant hepatitis B vaccine was evaluated in terms of immunogenicity and reactogenicity in a cohort of healthy healthcare professionals who were persistent non-responders to the currently licensed hepatitis B vaccines. One hundred subjects were allocated randomly to receive two doses of 5, 10, 20 or 40 micrograms of a new hepatitis B vaccine 2 months apart. The overall seroconversion rate was 70% with a single dose of 20 micrograms of the vaccine being as effective as two doses of either 20 micrograms or 40 micrograms of the vaccine formulation in terms of seroconversion, seroprotection and geometric mean titres.