Disease Information

Photo courtesey of Dr. Richard Kuhn, Purdue University

Caused by a mosquito-borne RNA virus, West Nile disease presents a significant public health concern. Inviragen has obtained an exclusive license to a candidate West Nile vaccine developed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This vaccine uses the same chimeric virus technology developed for the dengue vaccine, as shown in the figure below.

The DEN-2/WN vaccine candidate has been shown to retain the DEN-2 PDK-53 safety properties in cell culture and in animal models. The attenuated DEN-2/WN hybrid virus is a safe and effective vaccine in mice, generating West Nile neutralizing antibodies as well as protecting mice from lethal challenge with West Nile virus.

In December 2005, the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) granted funding to Inviragen for formulation efforts and continued preclinical development of the West Nile vaccine.