( ized animals had similar survival resul...)Novavax Pandemic Flu Vaccine Provided Protection Against a Lethal,Challenge of Live Virus, Pre-Clinical Data Show,Health

In addition, ferrets were protected not only against the Indonesian strain of avian flu but were cross-protected against a separate challenge strain originating in Vietnam. Again, all ferrets that received the Novavax vaccine survived, even those that received the lowest 0.6 microgram dose.

The International Conference on Avian Influenza in Humans brings together leading bird flu experts at the Pasteur Institute to review and discuss the latest scientific advances in vaccine prevention strategies and treatments designed to stem a pandemic.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently is testing antibodies from these animals against a number of additional strains of H5N1 that have been detected in recent years to establish whether the vaccine is even more broadly cross-protective.

"We are eager to begin our human clinical trials so that we can continue to evaluate the immunogenicity of our vaccine," Dr. Bright said. "The goal of prevention in a pandemic setting is to be prepared with a vaccine that can protect against varying strains of the virus that mutate as they travel around the globe, and to have enough supply to protect vulnerable populations. We believe our VLP vaccine may provide a unique solution to this potential public health threat."

VLPs mimic the three-dimensional structure of a virus but do not contain genetic material, so they cannot replicate or cause infection. As VLPs maintain functional properties of both influenza surface proteins (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase), they have been shown to activate multiple arms of the immune system to generate a broadly protective immune response.

"We continue to learn more about the potency of our VLP based flu vaccines, which have been shown to induce broadly reactive antibodies, provide efficacy against drifted flu strains, and elicit both B cell and T cell responses," Dr. Bright said. "This information is be
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