Immunization

Vaxine Wins Line Honours With World's First Human Swine Flu Vaccine

"This represents a major breakthrough as it is the first administration to human subjects of a swine flu vaccine anywhere in the world," said Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, Vaxine's Research Director. "The swine influenza vaccine we are testing, unlike old-fashioned egg-based virus vaccines is based on state-of-the-art recombinant protein technology combined with our proprietary polysaccharide adjuvant system (Advax™)," he said.

"This cutting-edge design means that vaccines can be produced in record time, making this technology ideal for rapid vaccine production in pandemic situations," said Dr Peter Cooper, who with Prof. Petrovsky invented the key adjuvant component of the vaccine.

"Never before has a new influenza vaccine been delivered to the clinic so fast. It is extraordinary what has been achieved in less than 3 months since the virus was first identified," said Dr Dimitar Sajkov, one of the clinical investigators. "We are proud to have got this swine flu vaccine to the clinic ahead of rival vaccines from the large manufacturers."

"Whilst we must be cautious until the outcome of these studies are known, if successful then it signals the beginning of the end for old-fashioned egg-based vaccines," said Prof. Petrovsky. "This new approach offers major safety advantages over traditional influenza vaccines as it is free of viral contaminants and is safe for people with egg allergies."

This new swine flu vaccine includes Vaxine's Advax adjuvant that induces powerful influenza protection through anti-influenza antibodies, but also T-cells, key components of the body's defence against the influenza virus.

Clinical trials of the new vaccine are being conducted for Vaxine by Prof. David Gordon at Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia and are targeting 300 healthy subjects aged 18-70 years. Vaxine last week won the AMP Innovation Award of the 2009 Telstra Business Awards. Vaxine's preclinical vaccine research is supported by grants from the US National Institute of Health.

Keywords: Technology, Biotechnology, Flu Vaccines, Immunization, Influenza Vaccines, Pandemics, Proteomics, Vaccination, Viral, Virus, Vaxine Pty Ltd.

This article was prepared by Pharma Business Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Pharma Business Week via NewsRx.com.