Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/10/flu-scan-oct-01-2015
Flu Scan for Oct 01, 2015
Flu vaccine development; H5N6 in Vietnamese poultry
Filed Under:
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Influenza Vaccines; Pandemic Influenza
[h=3]HHS funds 2 projects to aid flu vaccine development[/h] The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is funding two projects to aid in developing better seasonal flu vaccines and in improving pandemic flu preparedness, the agency said in a news release yesterday.
One project advances the development of a novel oral influenza vaccine taken in pill form that could generate broader types of immune responses, and the other is a data-driven tool to inform experts in selecting more effective flu vaccines for the nation's pre-pandemic stockpile. Both will be funded by HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response through its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
BARDA has awarded a 2-year, $14 million contract to support the development of a room-temperature?stable, oral recombinant candidate flu vaccine made by Vaxart Inc. of San Francisco. The contract funds clinical studies comparing the oral vaccine to a licensed inactivated flu vaccine.
Earlier clinical studies indicated that the oral vaccine might elicit immune responses associated with protection against multiple seasonal flu viruses and those with pandemic potential, according to the release, apparently referring to a phase 1 trial published about a month ago in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. That study involved 24 adults, 12 of whom received the vaccine.
BARDA also will provide $8 million, with an option for a total of $24.3 million over 5 years, for the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to develop methods of antigenic mapping, or forecasting how flu viruses might change over time. The approach could improve a vaccine's match to evolving H5N1 and other potential pandemic flu viruses, HHS said.
Sep 30 HHS press release
Sep 6 Lancet Infect Dis study
[h=3]H5N6 detected again in Vietnamese poultry[/h] Vietnam's agriculture ministry yesterday reported another highly pathogenic H5N6 avian flu outbreak. The latest outbreak began on Sep 29, striking backyard birds in a village in Lai Chau province, located in the far northern part of Vietnam, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Of 1,005 susceptible birds, the virus killed 801, and the remaining ones were stamped out to control the spread of the disease.
Vietnam has had a host of H5N6 outbreaks since August 2014, when the virus was first detected there and identified as a new strain.
Sep 30 OIE report
Flu Scan for Oct 01, 2015
Flu vaccine development; H5N6 in Vietnamese poultry
Filed Under:
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Influenza Vaccines; Pandemic Influenza
[h=3]HHS funds 2 projects to aid flu vaccine development[/h] The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is funding two projects to aid in developing better seasonal flu vaccines and in improving pandemic flu preparedness, the agency said in a news release yesterday.
One project advances the development of a novel oral influenza vaccine taken in pill form that could generate broader types of immune responses, and the other is a data-driven tool to inform experts in selecting more effective flu vaccines for the nation's pre-pandemic stockpile. Both will be funded by HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response through its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
BARDA has awarded a 2-year, $14 million contract to support the development of a room-temperature?stable, oral recombinant candidate flu vaccine made by Vaxart Inc. of San Francisco. The contract funds clinical studies comparing the oral vaccine to a licensed inactivated flu vaccine.
Earlier clinical studies indicated that the oral vaccine might elicit immune responses associated with protection against multiple seasonal flu viruses and those with pandemic potential, according to the release, apparently referring to a phase 1 trial published about a month ago in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. That study involved 24 adults, 12 of whom received the vaccine.
BARDA also will provide $8 million, with an option for a total of $24.3 million over 5 years, for the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to develop methods of antigenic mapping, or forecasting how flu viruses might change over time. The approach could improve a vaccine's match to evolving H5N1 and other potential pandemic flu viruses, HHS said.
Sep 30 HHS press release
Sep 6 Lancet Infect Dis study
[h=3]H5N6 detected again in Vietnamese poultry[/h] Vietnam's agriculture ministry yesterday reported another highly pathogenic H5N6 avian flu outbreak. The latest outbreak began on Sep 29, striking backyard birds in a village in Lai Chau province, located in the far northern part of Vietnam, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Of 1,005 susceptible birds, the virus killed 801, and the remaining ones were stamped out to control the spread of the disease.
Vietnam has had a host of H5N6 outbreaks since August 2014, when the virus was first detected there and identified as a new strain.
Sep 30 OIE report