Single Dose of Vical Flu Vaccine Provides 100% Protection

Vical Incorporated has reported that a single injection of the company’s lead avian influenza DNA vaccine candidate provided 100% protection in ferrets against a highly virulent H5N1 virus.

Conventional vaccines under development for avian flu typically have required two or more doses in humans. A single-dose vaccine regimen could prove beneficial during a pandemic, both in extending vaccine supply to protect a greater number of people, and in achieving protective immune responses as quickly as possible.

The company had previously demonstrated that two doses of the vaccine candidate provided 100% protection in mice and ferrets against lethal challenges with H5N1 virus.

“Our goal is to advance into human testing with this program as quickly as possible, both to provide a potential defense against a pandemic outbreak and to explore the potential for a seasonal flu vaccine using a similar approach,” said Vijay Samant, president and CEO of Vical.

Financial support for the study was provided under previously-announced grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.