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Countermeasure Research and Development News Updates

By Christine SooHoo and Crystal Franco, September 22, 2008

On September 16, 2008, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced the results of two clinical trials for its pre-pandemic H5N1 vaccine Prepandrix^TM. The trials showed that Prepandrix^TM elicited broad, persistent immunity across a number of H5N1 influenza strains. According to GSK, immunity lasts for months, persisting until after the second dose is given and lasting even if the second dose contains a different strain of H5N1.¹

Prepandrix^TM is the only pre-pandemic vaccine approved for use, and licensed for marketing, in Europe. Given the results of the clinical trial, GSK is optimistic that Prepandrix^TM will provide governments with “greater administration flexibility…” and will be “adaptable to local pre-pandemic vaccination policies.”¹

In related news, Vaxin, Inc., announced on September 10 that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the pharmaceutical company a small business innovation research program (SBIR) grant totaling $955,357 to support ongoing development of the company’s avian influenza vaccine for poultry. Vaxin’s research on the vaccine is being done in collaboration with Auburn University and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Southeastern Poultry Lab.²

NIH funding will support safety and efficacy studies for the bird vaccine.² Vaxin’s goal is to develop a vaccine which can be used to quickly and easily to mass-vaccinate domesticated poultry. This could help reduce bird-to-human transmission of H5N1, and it would also reduce the culling of entire flocks which can have grave impacts on the agriculture and food industries.

Finally, on September 10, XOMA, Ltd., announced the establishment of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Texas A&M System to explore options for the improved development and manufacture of antibodies and protein-based therapeutics for human and veterinary applications.³

According to XOMA, this partnership marks an “innovative cross functional endeavor between industry and university” which could be a means of meeting “the advanced needs of the biological manufacturing industry for years to come.”³ This has positive implications for the scalable and rapid development of effective biodefense countermeasures.

References

1. New data for GlaxoSmithKline’s pre-pandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine, Prepandrix™, show administration flexibility for pandemic planning [news release]. Vilamoura, Portugal: GlaxoSmithKline; September 16, 2008. http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2008/
   2008_pressrelease_10106.htm. Accessed September 19, 2008.
2. Vaxin awarded NIH funding or avian flu vaccine development $1.0 million grant to fund Vaxin collaboration with Auburn University and USDA [news release]. Birmingham, AL: Vaxin Inc.; September 10, 2008. http://vaxin.com/NIHGrantRelease.pdf. Accessed September 18, 2008.
3. Texas A&M University System and XOMA sign memorandum of understanding [news release]. College Station, TX and Berkeley, CA: XOMA, Ltd.; September 10, 2008. http://www.xoma.com/company/news-events/press-releases/index.cfm?releaseID=333695. Accessed September 18, 2008.