Universal flu vaccine developer BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (TASE:BNDX) has completed studies in mice that validate the effectiveness of the company's vaccine against an additional group of avian flu strains, the H7 class. The H7 strains are virulent, with 76% of infected people getting sick and 33% dying.
The latest milestone marks BiondVax's completion of studies that established the effectiveness of the company's universal flu vaccine, the M-001, against the two major groups of deadly bird flu strains, H5 and H7. The study demonstrated that giving a priming administration of the company's vaccine prior to the pandemic avian flu vaccine greatly increases the level of protective antibodies in mice and in this way, provides protection against a flu pandemic.
According to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, it was shown that following vaccination with M-001, the proportion of mice protected against H7 flu viruses was doubled. BiondVax intends to share this data with government health organizations worldwide to promote the company's clinical development of the vaccine.
The results of the latest study underscore the universality of BiondVax’s flu vaccine, and support the company’s proposal that giving a priming dose of M-001 immediately after a pandemic flu outbreak starts - and before the specific vaccine against the emerging strain gets to the market - will increase the proportion of the population protected, whether the outbreak is caused by the H5 strain as has been reported by the company a year ago, or by the H7 strain.
BiondVax CEO Dr. Ron Babecoff, "This represents a significant milestone for the future preparedness of governments against flu outbreaks, and is also a very important clinical indicator for BiondVax, which we intend to translate into financial resources for the company. We are confident that similarly, in the future, we will demonstrate the effectiveness of our universal flu vaccine against every new pandemic strain that is discovered. The current study compliments data from our clinical trials in humans that show the universal nature of our flu vaccine, particularly the remarkable ability to effectively immunize against seasonal and pandemic flu strains. In future clinical studies we will further demonstrate the universal capabilities of the M-001 vaccine."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 29, 2014
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