AmVac and the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan have resolved to launch a joint collaboration with the aim of developing a new avian flu vaccine. The Taiwanese scientists have decided to use the vaccine adjuvant macrophage-activating lipopeptide-2 (MALP-2) from AmVac for this.
The AmVac adjuvant is reportedly suitable for absorption through the mucosal membranes. AmVac has acquired exclusive rights to the adjuvant MALP-2, developed at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, for all infectious diseases worldwide. This synthetic, well-tolerated class of adjuvants acts as a ‘toll-like’ receptor agonist in activating cells of the immune system and thus at central sites in mediation of the immune response.
According to the company, animal models have already shown strong antibody and cellular responses. Preliminary results in mice have revealed that the pandemic H5N1 flu vaccine combined with MALP-2 elicits flu-specific antibodies following intranasal immunization. The first clinical studies on the H5N1 vaccine will start in 2009, while the implementation of the combination with the adjuvant is planned for the clinical setting in 2011.
Michel Klein, chief scientific officer of AmVac, said: Mucosal vaccination via the mucous membranes is the most efficient strategy to elicit both strong local and systemic immunity against respiratory viruses. Intranasal immunization against flu would allow for the production of protective antibody responses at the site of entry of the virus.