Flu Vaccine for Lifelong Protection May Soon be a Reality

BARNEY GRAHAM: So in this case, using the 1999 virus haemagglutinins and stem, we immunised mice and we immunised ferrets and we’re able to show that they had protection against lethal H5N1, avian flu challenge. In 2014, the CDC and WHO predicted that H3N2 would be one of the predominant strains for the flu season, and that year’s vaccines were created to protect against it, but H3N2 “ended up not being the dominant strain in the environment”, said Radspinner.

A sign lets customers know they can get a flu shot in a Walgreen store in Indianapolis.

Last year, the CDC announced the vaccine was not fully effective in protecting the community against all strains of influenza.

Typical flu vaccines target a molecule denominated haemagglutinin (HA) sitting on flu viruses. Scientists pinpointed HA stem region, which connects different viruses to cells. Radspinner said he expects FluGen’s first human trials will reveal that Redee Flu is more effective than the flu vaccine developed by Vivaldi, which he said experienced “disappointing results in their first human studies”. When it was used on monkeys, the researchers found that it triggered a strong immune system response and reduced the fever of the monkeys they injected with H1N1 – a very contagious, but less deadly strain.

Scientists are getting closer to developing a vaccine that protects against multiple types of flu viruses, according to two separate studies published today in Nature Medicine and in Science.

According to a flu expert at the University of London, Professor John Oxford, the current research work on the universal flu seems to be quite promising.

If vaccines don’t help the elderly, as some critics suggest, then nursing home residents shouldn’t fare any better when the vaccine is a good match than when it’s a bad match.

One group combined the HA stem with part of an iron-storing bacterial protein to create a star-shaped nanoparticle that triggered an immune response in mice and ferrets.

“Influenza remains one of the most serious public health challenges, and new therapeutic and preventative solutions are needed”, said Hanneke Schuitemaker, head of viral vaccines discovery at Janssen Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, a company that worked on the vaccine. The protein on the surface allows the viruses entrance to different cells. The flu virus is constantly mutating.

Two new studies have demonstrated that huge strides are being made toward the development of a universal vaccine for influenza.

Seasonal flu typically causes more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths every year in the United States.

A universal flu vaccine, which would protect against any strain of the highly variable flu virus has been successful when treated on animals.