UK: Clinically testing vaccines against all strains of influenza

A company in the UK is conducting clinical trials of the world's first universal flu vaccine to provide great health benefits to the community, eliminating the need for annual vaccinations for prevention. prevent seasonal flu.

Challenges to making generic flu vaccines

Vaccitech - a private company of Oxford University (UK) - is developing a generic flu vaccine that can help the body fight most flu strains for a long time. The company has just announced it received a $ 27.6 million grant from investors, to conduct a phase 2 clinical trial for a new, two-year vaccine.

Vaccitech's vaccine MVA-NP + M1 has been successfully tested for safety over 145 people in the first phase. The company's next step is to test the vaccine's ability, helping people to resist many strains of viruses. flu.

Why is it so hard to make a generic flu vaccine? If you look at the flu virus under a microscope, it basically looks like a ball with many spikes. These spikes contain two types of proteins, haemagglutinin and neuraminidase , which help the virus attack cells, causing us to catch influenza. The two types of haemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins on the virus surface are constantly changing, which has led scientists in the past to make new vaccines, to target the latest virus strain.

The illustration of the flu virus shows the blue protein spots on its surface.(Photo: Shutterstock).

MVA-NP + M1 has a different mechanism than regular flu vaccines. It uses stable materials inside the core of the virus, to promote the activity of T cells - a type of immune cell - against the flu virus. Unlike proteins on the surface of influenza A viruses - the most common source of human flu infection - proteins within the core of the virus are almost unchanged, making them easily targets of vaccines. Please new. Vaccination is the best way to prevent the flu.

However, this method does not always work as expected. In the UK alone, in the winter of 2016, the current vaccine contributes to a 40% reduction in the number of people with influenza under age 65, but almost no effect for people over 65 years of age. The reason is attributed to the fact that as people age, the immune system is weaker, the body does not respond to some vaccines like young people.

Phase 2 clinical trial

Vaccitech Company is conducting clinical trials of influenza virus resistance of MVA-NP + M1 vaccine on 862 people aged 65 and older. The trial is expected to be completed in October 2019.

During the test, all participants will receive regular flu vaccines in addition to MVA-NP + M1 vaccine and a placebo. Researchers hypothesize that the MVA-NP + M1 vaccine will help volunteers better fight flu viruses, when they only receive regular vaccines. If the results are satisfactory, the new vaccine will be transferred to the final stage of testing.

MVA-NP + M1 is not the only flu vaccine currently being studied, but it is the most advanced study being tested in humans. Tom Evans, Vaccitech's chief executive, said if all goes well, the vaccine could even appear on the market.
within the next 5-7 years.

'In the future, flu vaccines can protect for more than five years without having to be repeated every year,' said Sarah Gilbert, Vaccintech co-founder.