The Rockville, MD-based developer has been pursuing a partnership with General Electric to advance a new flu vaccine that could be swiftly produced in large quantities. The company uses new technology that can cut to 10 to 12 weeks the time it takes to manufacture vaccines. This is half the time required to make egg-based vaccines.
The experimental bird flu vaccine uses particles that mimic the size and shape of the virus, which trigger an immune response but lack the genetic material to replicate. Since the particles are produced in more stable insect-cell cultures, they yield seven to 10 times higher than egg-based manufacturing units.
The researchers tested the vaccine on 160 patients taking part in the clinical trial who received two vaccine injections of 15 to 90 micrograms one month apart. The results showed strong antibody activity at three levels of dosing.
At the highest dose, the vaccine produced a response against one version of the lethal H5N1 bird flu in 94 percent of patients, Novavax said in a statement. The vaccine targets a strain of avian flu that emerged in Indonesia in 2005, and has infected at least 135 humans, most of whom have died.
There were 385 cases of bird flu in humans, leading to 243 deaths, from 2003 to June 19, according to the World Health Organization's most recent data. Most outbreaks have occurred in Asia.
