EpiVax to use ‘Immune History’ to protect against bird flu

EpiVax, Inc. has announced a new NIH-funded collaboration to develop a protective avian influenza A (H7N9) vaccine. H7N9 is distantly related to seasonal influenza and presents a challenge for traditional flu vaccine approaches, which rely on prior exposure to be effective. Using state-of-the-art bioinformatics and molecular modeling methods, this cutting-edge programme aims to engineer the H7N9 hemagglutinin protein to resemble seasonal flu; a process designed to engage immunological memory and make conventional hemagglutinin-focused flu vaccines protective against the new high-mortality avian influenza.

The programme will be carried out by scientists with a wide range of influenza expertise across immunology, vaccinology, structural biology, bioinformatics, animal infection models and vaccine manufacture. The participating institutions include EpiVax (Annie De Groot, William Martin, Lenny Moise), UMASS Medical School (Celia Schiffer), Protein Sciences, recently acquired by Sanofi Pasteur (Indresh Srivastava), and The University of Georgia (Ted Ross).

EpiVax’s first-generation engineered H7N9 product is currently under clinical trial in Adelaide, Australia, managed by a team at Flinders University and Vaxine. Nikolai Petrovsky, Vaxine’s research director, commented "We are proud to be the first in the world to test in humans EpiVax’s innovative approach to modifying flu proteins to make them more immunogenic."

This five-year programme will address pandemic preparedness, which is a pillar of the US Government’s National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza. "The EpiVax team has had a great deal of success developing vaccines to help people all over the world lead healthier lives," said U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.  "Congratulations to EpiVax on attracting this federal funding, which is another notable achievement for Rhode Island’s growing biotech industry."