Best News So Far in 2007: A Universal Flu Vaccine
OK, it took a coupla days to cross the Atlantic, but the Brits report that they and some Swiss pharma companies are close to developing a universal flu vaccine.
Says the Daily Mail:
British scientists are on the verge of producing a revolutionary flu vaccine that works against all major types of the disease. Described as the ‘holy grail’ of flu vaccines, it would protect against all strains of influenza A – the virus behind both bird flu and the nastiest outbreaks of winter flu.
Just a couple of injections could give long-lasting immunity – unlike the current vaccine which has to be given every year. The brainchild of scientists at Cambridge biotech firm Acambis, working with Belgian researchers, the vaccine will be tested on humans for the first time in the next few months.
A similar universal flu vaccine, being developed by Swiss vaccine firm Cytos Biotechnology, could also be tested on people in 2007 – and the vaccines on the market in around five years. Importantly, the vaccines would also be quicker and easier to make than the traditional jabs, meaning vast quantities could be stockpiled against a global outbreak of bird flu.
So how does this work?? I thought that flu viruses mutated constantly, so you could not build a one-shot-prevents-all influenza vaccine.
The article claims that only surface proteins on a flu virus actually mutate — there are core proteins that don’t — so the vaccine targets one of these. I’m sure that there is a reason nobody did this earlier — but fine.
Current flu vaccines focus on two proteins on the surface of the virus. However, these constantly mutate in a bid to fool the immune system, making it impossible for vaccine manufacturers to keep up with the creation of each new strain.
The universal vaccines focus on a different protein called M2, which has barely changed during the last 100 years. The protein is found in all types of Influenza A, including the current bird flu and the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed up to 50 million across the globe.
Zurich-based Cytos, which is also developing anti-smoking and obesity vaccines, has showed that its version of the jab stops mice dying from a dose of flu strong enough to kill them four-times over. The vaccinated animals were also spared the fever that normally goes along with flu.
Very cool. Remember breakthroughs like this the next time you curse them damned greedy drug companies.
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