Russian vaccine against all types of influenza
Preclinical trials of a universal flu vaccine have been completed in St. Petersburg
Natalia Mikhalchenko, TASS
Scientists of the Influenza Research Institute (St. Petersburg) have completed preclinical trials of a universal influenza vaccine. This was reported to the correspondent of TASS by the deputy director of the Institute for Science Lyudmila Tsybalova.
"We have completed the phase of preclinical testing, we have made sure of the effectiveness of the development," she said. Tsybalova explained that the universal vaccine is a more high-tech drug for combating influenza than seasonal ones. It is aimed at reducing the damage from pandemics and preventing vaccine dependence in children.
Which animals helped scientistsScientists of the Influenza Research Institute have been working on the creation of a universal vaccine for five years.
It took two years to design the vaccine (these works were carried out jointly with the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences), and three more years for preclinical tests.
"We tested the effect of the development on mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs and, at the very end, on ferrets, since ferrets and monkeys are the best model for testing anti–influenza drugs. These animals suffer from the flu almost as much as a person," Tsybalova said.
The work was funded by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, over 30 million rubles were spent.
It's up to the volunteersIn the near future, the Influenza Research Institute plans to submit an application to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for clinical trials.
They will require two or three more years of work and 30-40 million rubles of investments. "Clinical trials are more expensive than preclinical ones because they require the costs of developing the right amount of vaccine, paying for insurance to volunteers, paying for their participation in the study, and much more," Tsybalova said.
The difference of the new vaccineThe target for the universal vaccine is a virus-infected cell of the body.
A vaccinated person, if he gets sick, then in a very mild form, a fatal outcome will be excluded. The universal vaccine induces immunity to the internal (conservative) proteins of the influenza virus, which do not change from season to season. Therefore, a universal vaccine will not need to be administered annually, as it happens with a seasonal one (the exact duration of the drug will be known after clinical trials). Changes in the surface proteins of the virus will not prevent it from fulfilling its role. In turn, the seasonal vaccine works differently. Its task is to neutralize the virus before it gets into the cell, and thereby prevent the disease.
In the event that the set of viruses circulating in the human population is well known, and it is this set that has been included in the seasonal vaccine, everything is fine. But if the virus mutates strongly, it will not help, and a universal vaccine will be able to prevent a pandemic like the Spanish flu, which claimed the lives of several percent of humanity in 1918.
A universal vaccine is also needed to prevent vaccine dependence in children. Currently, seasonal flu vaccines are administered to children annually, starting from the age of 6 months. And if the vaccine is not administered in some year, the child can get very seriously ill. "This is due to the fact that the child's immune system responds only to the surface proteins of the virus, which are part of subunit vaccines (a group of vaccines with a high degree of purification, causing the least number of allergic manifestations – redness and itching), and immunity is not produced for the rest of the proteins," Tsybalova explained. With the introduction of a universal vaccine and under its protection during subsequent infection, immunity will be developed for all proteins of the virus, that is, it will be full.
The need for a universal vaccine is also connected with the fact that in the case of a strong mutation, the influenza virus acquires the ability to spread much faster than usual, and to counteract it, it requires quickly accumulating a large number of vaccine doses. "A universal vaccine can be produced faster and at a lower cost than a seasonal one," Tsybalova stressed.
Who else is working on a universal vaccineIn addition to the Influenza Research Institute, a universal vaccine is being developed by scientists of the N.F. Gamalei Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
"There are still preclinical tests going on," the interlocutor clarified.
As practice shows, it takes about eight years to create any vaccine. The Research Institute of Influenza of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation is two to three years from the registration of the vaccine.
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22.01.2015