US Unit of Japan’s Kirin Brewery Develops Flu Antibody

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 18 December: Gemini Science Inc, a US unit of Kirin Brewery Co. has developed an antibody for treating and protecting against flu infections that could also prove effective in fighting avian influenza including the deadly H5N1 strain, Kirin announced Sunday [18 December].

Gemini said in a news release dated Saturday that the antibody “demonstrated broad activities against a wide range of human and avian influenza strains” including H5N1. The strain has killed scores of people in Asia since 2003.

The antibody has been confirmed to be effective in experiments with mice, and it is expected to take some more time to make it available for humans, according to Kirin.

The antibody was developed by a joint research team from Gemini and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, both of which are based in San Diego, California. The results of the research were announced at a meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy held in Washington Saturday.