NOVAVAX PRESENTS DATA ON PANDEMIC FLU VACCINE CANDIDATES

Novavax's pandemic influenza vaccine candidates triggered a protective immune response in several preclinical studies, according to data presented at the World Congress on Vaccines, Immunization and Immunotherapy.

Novavax scientists created four vaccine candidates to protect against four different subtypes of human and avian influenza, including H5N1. These virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines, which have the three-dimensional structure of the influenza virus but don't contain genetic material, have been tested in three animal models.

Data show each vaccine candidate triggered an immune response robust enough to protect against infection at very low doses of vaccine. Two of Novavax's vaccine candidates were tested in ferrets, the influenza animal model that is most relevant to humans. These vaccine candidates produced robust immune responses that provided protection against a variety of influenza strains, including strains not included in the vaccines.

Most influenza vaccines are made from proteins. When compared with a single flu protein from a 2002 influenza virus, Novavax's VLP vaccines raised and broadened the ferrets' immune response by more than 3.5 times when tested against that virus. In addition, when the immune response was measured against a different influenza strain from 2004, the response generated by Novavax's VLP vaccines was more than eight times higher than that induced by the single flu protein.