Government Technology

    Digital Communities
    Industry Members

  • Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.
  • EMC
  • McAfee

Efforts Underway to Quickly Develop Swine Flu Vaccine



June 2, 2009 By News Staff

Scientists around the world are accelerating their efforts to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza virus (Swine flu) as rapidly as possible, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The need for such a vaccine received a strong impetus from the World Health Organization, which has issued a Phase 5 pandemic alert, a strong signal that the WHO believes a pandemic is imminent, according to the June 1 issue of GEN (www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2938).

"It can take five or six months to come up with an entirely novel influenza vaccine," says John Sterling, Editor in Chief of GEN. "There is a great deal of hope that biotech and pharma companies might be able to have something ready sooner."

One company, Replikins, actually predicted over a year ago that significant outbreaks of the H1N1 flu virus would occur within 6-12 months. The predictions were based on correlations of flu virus specimens and PubMed documentation of major outbreaks during the past 90 years, focusing on concentrations of, and spacings between, replikins-the lysine and histidine residues in the hemagglutinin (HA) unit genetic sequences of the eight major genes in the influenza virus. Replikins' officials say the company's PanFLuTM vaccine is ready for clinical trials.

Novavax plans to create a virus-like particle-based (VLP) vaccine against the H1N1 strain, which obviates the need for a live virus seed for manufacturing. The VLPs contain the proteins that make the virus' outer shell and the surface proteins, without the RNA required for replication.

Other H1N1 vaccine programs covered in the GEN article include those at Medicago, VaxInnate, NanoBio, Vaxart, Pulmatrix, and Purdue University.

 


| More

Comments

Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

In Our Library

White Papers | Exclusives Reports | Webinar Archives | Best Practices and Case Studies
Mobile Capture - taking the first step
Download this whitepaper and learn how to reduce costs and improve the value of services to compete effectively. This insightful use case demonstrates the benefits of providing branch employees, field representatives and customers with the ability to capture application forms and supporting documents with a mobile phone or tablet, and immediately have them validated and fed directly into the back office process.
Hurricane Preparedness
Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season before it is here. Join in this Digital Communities teleconference and gain insight on how to prepare from experts who have been on the ground during major hurricanes.
Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out
This paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
View All


Featured White Papers & Reports

Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out

This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.


View Full Library

Events

GTC East

Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.

View All Events