Disease Information

Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus emerged recently in Southeast Asia and has quickly spread throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Through bird to human transmission, the virus has infected humans resulting in high mortality rates. To date there have been 281 laboratory-confirmed cases of H5N1 influenza and 169 deaths.

There is increasing concern that the avian H5N1 influenza virus will become capable of human to human transmission through additional mutation or through reassortment with a human virus. If this occurs and the virus retains its pathogenicity, a truly devastating global pandemic could occur.

The most effective means of reducing the spread and the clinical consequences of influenza is by vaccination. The principle behind the generation of human influenza vaccines is to elicit protective antibodies directed primarily against HA, the major protective antigen of the virus that induces neutralizing antibodies. In the US, two types of vaccines are currently approved for human use; 1) inactivated virus, and 2) cold-adapted attenuated virus. The inactivated virus vaccines are manufactured in eggs and have an efficacy in the range of 50-80%, depending on the recipient's age and health status. Current research efforts to improve the efficacy of influenza vaccines include the use of adjuvants and/or novel delivery methods that could significantly augment the levels and duration of the immune responses.

Inviragen is collaborating with leading influenza virus researchers the University of Wisconsin to construct and test novel avian influenza vaccines. Inviragen will engineer the safe poxvirus vector, MVA, to express avian influenza antigens using the principles the Company has developed in its plague vaccine program. The Company's goal is to develop a recombinant viral avian influenza vaccine that will be intranasally administered, provide rapid protection from infection, and provide cross-protection against different H5N1 viruses. Inviragen has received a Small Business Technology Transfer Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to support our avian influenza vaccine research and the collaborative research at University of Wisconsin.