By IANS,
Washington : A single flu shot delivered nasally to ferrets triggered 20 times greater immunity than those conferred by two injections of currently approved vaccines, according to a study.
Ferrets were tested because they represent the most relevant flu animal model for humans. “Our… intranasal vaccine adjuvant (added to a drug to improve its effectiveness) system represents a paradigm shift in vaccinology,” said James R. Baker, Jr, founder and chairman of NanoBio-Corp, which developed the vaccine.
It can be used to safely deliver multiple antigen types directly into the lining of nasal mucosa, rich in dendritic cells that present the antigen(s) to the immune system to help produce antibodies.
In the study, ferrets received 7.5, 15 and 45 micrograms of the flud vaccine. All three doses produced antibody responses substantially higher than those triggered by the standard intramuscular vaccine, according to a NanoBio Corporation release.
“A large, unmet medical need still exists for protecting people from influenza infection, …a vaccine that would protect people in the face of a flu pandemic,” said Baker.
NanoBio plans to begin a phase-1 clinical study for seasonal influenza in the first half of 2009 and is currently initiating preclinical studies in pandemic flu.
These results were presented at the 48th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 46th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.