Herpes vaccine candidate tracker
Every HSV (herpes-simplex-virus) vaccine candidate we track, ordered by how far it has progressed. Each row shows the current phase and the date we last verified it. Open a candidate for its full status and sources.
| Candidate | Developer | Platform | Target | Approach | Phase | Registry ClinicalTrials.gov, | Papers in our library peer-reviewed, 2025–2026 | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HerpV | Agenus | protein subunit | HSV-2 | therapeutic | phase 2 | No ongoing trial 1 registered trial, none active | 0 | |
| VCL-HB01 | Vical | DNA | HSV-2 | therapeutic | phase 2 | No ongoing trial 2 registered trials, none active | 0 | |
| BNT163 | BioNTech SE | mRNA | HSV-2 | prophylactic | phase 1 | Trial ongoing 1 of 1 registered trial | 2 | |
| GSK4108771A | GlaxoSmithKline | other | unclear | unclear | phase 1 | No ongoing trial 1 registered trial, none active | 0 | |
| G103 | Sanofi Pasteur, a Sanofi Company (lead sponsor of NCT04222985) | protein subunit | HSV-2 | therapeutic | phase 1 | No ongoing trial 1 registered trial, none active | 0 | |
| HSV529 | Sanofi Pasteur (trials run with NIAID and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center) | replication-defective live | HSV-2 | both | phase 1 | No ongoing trial 3 registered trials, none active | 0 | |
| BCHT HSV-2 mRNA vaccine | Changchun BCHT Biotechnology Co. | mRNA | HSV-2 | unclear | phase 1 | Trial ongoing 1 of 1 registered trial | 0 | |
| pPJV7630 | PowderMed | DNA | HSV-2 | therapeutic | phase 1 | No ongoing trial 2 registered trials, none active | 0 | |
| M6 live-attenuated HSV-1 strain | Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming (Qihan Li laboratory) | live-attenuated | HSV-1 | prophylactic | preclinical | No registered trial | 0 | |
| Prime/Pull/Keep therapeutic vaccines | University of California, Irvine (BenMohamed laboratory) | other | both | therapeutic | preclinical | No registered trial | 0 | |
| gG-2 vaccine (EXCT4) | University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy (Liljeqvist, Görander and Bergström laboratories) | protein subunit | HSV-2 | unclear | preclinical | No registered trial | 1 | |
| Trivalent gC2/gD2/gE2 mRNA (UPenn) | University of Pennsylvania (Friedman & Weissman labs); licensed to BioNTech | mRNA | HSV-2 | prophylactic | preclinical | No registered trial | 2 | |
| ΔgD-2 | Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Jacobs and Herold laboratories) | replication-defective live | both | prophylactic | preclinical | No registered trial | 0 | |
| mRNA-1608 | Moderna (ModernaTX, Inc.) | mRNA | HSV-2 | therapeutic | discontinued | No ongoing trial 1 registered trial, none active | 1 | |
| GEN-003 | Genocea Biosciences | protein subunit | HSV-2 | therapeutic | discontinued | No ongoing trial 5 registered trials, none active | 0 | |
| Herpevac (gD2 subunit, GSK) | GlaxoSmithKline | protein subunit | HSV-2 | prophylactic | discontinued | No ongoing trial 1 registered trial, none active | 0 | |
| Theravax / Profavax (Rational Vaccines) | Rational Vaccines (William Halford) | live-attenuated | both | both | cautionary | No registered trial | 0 |
Phase is our editorial reading of the evidence: the highest phase a candidate has reached. Registry is a separate, verbatim fact from ClinicalTrials.gov as of Oct 26, 2026: "Trial ongoing" means at least one registered trial is recruiting, active but not recruiting, enrolling by invitation, or not yet recruiting. A registered trial existing is not evidence that it succeeded, and neither column overrides the other. Papers in our library counts the peer-reviewed papers we have written up that name the candidate, published in the years shown. It is not a count of all literature, it does not measure quality, and the table is not ordered by it. See our methodology.