At the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, USA, the first phase 1 study in humans has started which evaluates the safety and immunogenicity of FluMos-v1, a nanoparticle vaccine against influenza.
It is a "universal" vaccine designed to provide long-lasting protection against multiple current and future strains of influenza viruses, even if not included in the formulation.
Phase 1 of the experimentation
Healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 50 will receive either a licensed seasonal flu vaccine or the experimental vaccine, FluMos-v1.
Scientists from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have developed FluMos-v1 to stimulate antibodies against multiple strains of the influenza virus. How? Placing part of the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) protein on scaffolds of self-assembling nanoparticles.
Alicia T Widge, MD, of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is the principal investigator of this study.
The health and economic burdens of influenza are substantial. The world is in dire need of vaccines better against the flu. In preclinical testing, this nanoparticle vaccine worked very well.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of NIAID
Get rid of the flu once and for all
Standard influenza vaccines need to be reformulated and given annually to accommodate changes in HA protein in viral strains that change from season to season.
If the vaccine is not well matched to the dominant circulating viral strains, it is not uncommon for the aroused antibodies to provide less than optimal protection.
This is why universal flu vaccines, now developed and tested by many research groups, could eliminate the need for annual vaccination.
