Word: flu
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...even if the CDC's seed stock of virus were to be released to vaccine makers today, it would take the companies anywhere from four to six months before the first inoculation could be ready for public use. That's because flu-vaccine production - whether for swine or seasonal flu - is time-consuming and laborious, requiring vaccine makers to grow millions of copies of the flu virus in chicken eggs, then purify those bugs into a ready-to-inject formula safe for patients. "We are moving things around to accommodate this and getting our raw materials ready and having...
...when the CDC gives the go-ahead, companies such as Sanofi will have to do an about-face, scrapping their current vaccine projects to switch to swine flu. Sanofi and other vaccine makers received the seed stock for the upcoming flu season last January and are now in the midst of culturing and purifying that virus for this fall's flu season. Nevertheless, Cary is confident: "We have two plants that both have the capability of producing what the U.S. market demand is for the seasonal and swine influenza vaccine," she says...
History teaches us, however, that it won't be easy. The last time the U.S. recommended nationwide vaccination against a suspected swine flu was in 1976, with less than successful results, to say the least. Under orders from President Gerald Ford, a vaccine was rushed into production and administered to 45 million Americans, at a cost of $135 million. But within weeks, people started developing Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing immune-system disorder that can result from the vaccine. Some experts estimated the risk of Guillain-Barré as being seven times higher in those who were immunized...
...biotech company Novavax, researchers are testing the use of virus-like particles (VLP), instead of the virus itself, to stimulate a flu immune response. Using this method, a vaccine for the 2009 H1N1 virus could be in production in 10 to 12 weeks, rather than the usual four to six months. "We have made vaccines against multiple flu strains and tested them in humans and gotten relevant and robust immune responses, which checks off the major boxes that the technology works against flu," says Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax...
...which then churns out neutralizing antibodies against the proteins. These antibodies are robust enough to fight off the actual virus should an immunized person become infected. This is the same way the recently developed vaccine against human papilloma virus, Gardasil, works. "It provides the look and feel of the flu virus but does not have the genetic materials to cause disease," Singhvi says. (Read about the vaccine being prepared in case of a pandemic...