By Lisa Jaffe Hubbell | Posted August 6 2010
Every year my son asks if he has to have a flu shot again. Every year I tell him yes. This year, I’m going to tell him about the potential, not too far down the road, when he’ll have his last flu shot – the one that will protect him for years regardless of what flu strains are circling the globe.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Blue Bell, PA and San Diego, CA is working on innovative technology that will produce a DNA-based vaccine. Researchers take small snippets of the DNA of flu virus and makes a vaccine that looks a like a lot of the various virus strains, but isn’t actually any of them. Joseph Kim, MD, president of Inovio, explains that the vaccine is neither live nor killed, and can be given to those who are allergic to eggs. Unlike live-virus vaccines – which are often more available during shortages – this can be given to those with compromised immune systems, too.
Dr. Kim is amazed at how well researchers do every year predicting which flu viruses to put into the annual vaccine. Most of the time, they get it right. But there are still 30,000 deaths annually from flu. The Inovio vaccine design has been successful in five different animal species, with virtually 100% protection from both death and illness. The trial vaccine proved itself further when the Swine Flu broke out last year. The vaccine was already deemed effective against the 1918 Spanish Flu (also a swine flu), says Kim. When H1N1 broke out, they were able to use the vaccine in a naturally occurring situation, using animals, and prove it was effective, at least in animal studies. (Human trials are just starting.)
The vaccine includes H1, H2, H3 and also H5N1 (the bird flu) components. Kim says they chose the last one because it is deadly 60% of the time. Phase I safety trials are under way for the H5N1 component. Because there are known immunity benchmarks for flu vaccines, by the end of the first quarter of 2011, there will not only be safety data, but efficacy information, too for the vaccine. Phase II trials will include all four components, and Kim says if all goes well, Inovia will seek FDA approval in 2015.
My son can hardly wait.
Connect the Dots
The basic research behind the Inovio vaccine can be seen at the Journal of Virology website. Inovio isn’t the only company looking for a new way to target the flu virus. Theraclone a Seattle-based biotech, is working on finding something that links all flu vaccines so that the disease in all its strains can be more easily fought. You can find information on flu vaccines in your area through the American Lung Association’s clinic finder.
PREVIOUS POST
