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news.Medicago has announced that its H5N1 avian influenza VLP vaccine, made from the Indonesian strain, has provided 100% protection in mice against a lethal challenge with live H5N1 viruses of the Vietnam strain.
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In this study, mice were vaccinated with a range of doses of the company’s VLP vaccine made from an Indonesian strain of H5N1 avian influenza. During the experiment, 100% of the vaccinated mice survived, while 100% of the control group died. The mice were challenged 80 days after vaccination with a live H5N1 strain from Vietnam. Results showed that mice vaccinated with Medicago’s H5N1 VLP vaccine were fully protected from illness and subsequent death even at the low dose of 0.5 microgram.
Including these results, the company has now established that its lead H5N1 VLP vaccine has the potential to protect against three strains of pandemic influenza. In earlier studies, the company demonstrated that its vaccine provides 100% cross-protection in mice against an influenza strain from Turkey.
Nathalie Landry, Medicago’s vice president of product development, said: “We believe these results significantly enhance the value of our H5N1 VLP vaccine. We expect to initiate studies in ferrets in the coming weeks and look forward to taking this new vaccine candidate into clinical trials in early 2009.”