PowderMed: Bush Pushes for Mass-Produced Avian Flu Vaccine; DNA-Based Vaccine Offers Hope for Rapid Response
Posted on: Thursday, 6 October 2005, 15:00 CDT
Expert Commentary and B-Roll Available WHAT: On Friday, President George W. Bush will urge vaccine manufacturers to mass produce vaccines for the avian flu virus. A new DNA-based avian flu vaccine in development would offer a rapid response to the potential global health emergency during the first six months of a pandemic, when the majority of mortalities would occur. DNA-based vaccines are manufactured using recombinant bacteria rather than eggs, thereby enabling production of 150 million vaccine doses in the first three months of a pandemic flu outbreak. By contrast, traditional flu vaccines are manufactured in eggs (recent data suggests that an avian flu vaccine would require up to 2 eggs per dose or 4 per person) . If a pandemic were to occur, a massive domestic bird slaughter would be underway making it highly unlikely that enough eggs would be available to produce sufficient traditional vaccine during the first six months of a pandemic. WHO: Dr. Clive Dix, Ph.D., CEO, and Dr. John Beadle, M.D., co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, for PowderMed, Ltd., a developer and manufacturer of DNA-based vaccines for viral diseases and cancer. PowderMed has produced an H5N1 Avian Influenza vaccine that is delivered by a fully developed and patented system, called Particle Mediated Epidermal Delivery (PMED(TM)), whereby gold particles coated in the vaccine DNA are propelled into the skin using high-pressure helium. In this way, vaccine DNA is delivered directly to cells of the immune network in the skin, thereby stimulating immunity. This approach provides a rapid route to vaccine development that can be applied to existing and emerging flu strains including, for example, the threat of the emergence of a pandemic flu strain. B-roll: Beta or VHS B-roll of PowderMed's DNA-based vaccine delivery system and commentary are available upon request. CONTENTS: Prof. Neil Ferguson, Imperial College, London Dr. Clive Dix, CEO, PowderMed Footage of PMED device File Footage of chicken slaughter in Southeast Asia
Source: Business Wire
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