Single dose of new vaccine may help prevent flu pandemic | @scoopit http://t.co/dl7ENMms
"Just a single dose of a vaccine being developed by Medicago, Inc., a
publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, could protect against not
only the avian influenza (H5N1) strain it was designed for, but also
another H5N1 strain and a strain of a different flu subtype, called
H2N2, researchers have found.
This phenomenon, known as "cross-protection," is highly desirable in an
influenza vaccine, especially when the threat of a pandemic influenza
outbreak looms. That's because influenza strains often mutate,
rendering stockpiled vaccines ineffective.
Medicago has a special advantage in this regard, because the company
can rapidly produce a vaccine in less than a month after the
identification of a flu strain. This speed results from Medicago's use
of entities known as virus-like particles (VLPs) to create its
vaccines.
Medicago is a worldwide leader in the development of VLP vaccines using
a transient expression system, which produces recombinant vaccine
antigens in plants. The accelerated production time frame gives the
potential to vaccinate the general public before the first wave of a
pandemic." Going green...you know the rest. Flu viruses mixing by
Russell Kightley Media
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