The British-American biotech company Acambis reports the successful tests of the universal flu vaccine on humans. The universal influenza vaccine has been pioneered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University. This vaccine is intended to provide protection against all ‘A’ strains of the virus that causes human influenza, including pandemic strains. Furthermore, this vaccine will not need to be renewed annually.
Flu
Influenza is an acute infection of the bronchial tubes and is caused by the influenza virus. Flu is highly contagious and causes people to feel deathly ill. An average of 5% of the world’s population is annually infected with this virus. In Belgium, an average of 1500 people die of flu each year. A ‘more severe flu year’ − such as the winter of 1989-1990 − claimed in our country 4500 victims.
Every year, 1 vaccination
Today’s flu vaccines need to be adapted every year and, consequently, they must also be administered again every year. This is needed because the external structure of the flu virus mutates regularly, giving rise to new strains of flu. Due to these frequent changes, the virus is able to elude the antibodies that have been built up during a previous infection or vaccination. This is why we run the risk of catching the flu each year. To prevent an infection, we need yearly a new flu vaccination. A universal flu vaccine that provides broad and lifelong protection − like the vaccines we have for polio, hepatitis B or measles − is not yet available.
1 vaccination for ever
In the 1990s, VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, under the direction of Prof. Emeritus Walter Fiers, invented a universal flu vaccine. This vaccine targets M2e, a conserved region of influenza ‘A’ strains, which would overcome the need for annual reformulation. Since all pandemic influenza strains are type ‘A’, it could also be a potential vaccine against pandemics. This vaccine was successfully tested on mice and other laboratory animals: the M2 vaccine provided total protection against ‘A’ strains of flu, without side effects.
Successful clinical trials on humans
Acambis − a biotech company that specializes in the development of vaccines − has been exclusively licensed rights to VIB’s flu vaccine patent portfolio and has entered into a collaboration with VIB for further development work. During the phase 1 trial of the universal vaccine ACAM-FLU-ATM, they evaluated the vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune response. The vaccine was tested on a small group of healthy people. The trial results demonstrate that ACAM-FLU-ATM is well tolerated and immunogenic.
Acambis also tested whether an M2-based vaccine could protect against the Vietnam 2004 strain of H5N1 avian influenza. 70% of those vaccinated with the M2e-based vaccine were protected.
Ian Garland, Chief Executive Officer of Acambis, said:
“We are very excited about these new data and believe this highly innovative vaccine could be very attractive in such a competitive field. We will explore partnering in parallel with continued development of ACAM-FLU-A™.”
Michael Watson, Acambis’ Executive Vice President, Research & Development, added:
“M2e is one of the most talked about approaches for universal influenza vaccination. These are exciting data as they show that our ACAM-FLU-A™ vaccine can generate a robust M2e antibody response and that M2e-based vaccines can protect against H5N1 avian influenza. We feel we have an approach worthy of further development.”
Promising future
Xavier Saelens, and Prof. Emeritus Walter Fiers are leading the fundamental research forward with respect to protection against influenza epidemics and pandemics. This involves, amongst other, supporting research required for the planned Phase II and III clinical trials. Through their collaboration with Acambis, they hope that annual flu vaccines can ultimately be replaced by the new, universal flu vaccine. The goal for this vaccine is that two inoculations would suffice to protect people against all ‘A’ strains of flu.
Questions
Given that this research can raise many questions, we ask you to please refer questions in your report or article to the email address that VIB makes available for this purpose: patienteninfo*Replace*With*At*Sign*vib.be. Everyone can submit questions concerning this and other medically-oriented research directly to VIB via this address.