Oxford University to Test Universal Flu Vaccine in World First

A nurse vaccinates a patient as part of the start of the seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in Nice, southeastern France, October 21, 2015.   REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
A nurse vaccinates a patient as part of the start of the seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in Nice, southeastern France, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
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Oxford University to Test Universal Flu Vaccine in World First

A nurse vaccinates a patient as part of the start of the seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in Nice, southeastern France, October 21, 2015.   REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
A nurse vaccinates a patient as part of the start of the seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in Nice, southeastern France, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A seasonal flu vaccine that would be the first in the world to fight all types of the virus is to be tested in a two-year clinical trial involving more than 2,000 patients by researchers in Oxford.

The so-called universal vaccine was developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and Vaccitech, a spin-out biotech company founded by Jenner scientists.

Current flu vaccines have to be changed each year to match strains of virus circulating at the time and they do not always protect people that well, especially older patients with weak immune systems.

The new vaccine works by using proteins found in the core of the virus rather than those on its surface. Surface proteins stick out like pins from the virus and change all the time, while those in the core are stable.

Significantly, the new vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to boost virus-killing T-cells, instead of antibodies. Previous research has shown such T-cells can help fight more than one type of flu virus.

Researchers hope the new vaccine will provide better and longer-lasting protection when used alongside the regular seasonal flu shot.

“We’re hoping it will last two to three years - maybe even four years - but we really don’t know until we do the trials,” Vaccitech Chief Executive Tom Evans told Reuters.

The new vaccine has already been tested for safety in earlier trials. Now it is advancing into mid-stage Phase IIb testing, which will see the recruitment of at least 500 British subjects this season. The remainder will be recruited during the 2018/9 flu season.

It is the first time a universal flu vaccine has progressed beyond Phase I clinical testing.

Assuming it is successful in Phase IIb, the new shot will still have to go into much bigger and expensive final-stage testing and Evans said the plan would be to bring in a partner at this stage of development.

“We would look for a better-capitalized company to take this into final Phase III tests,” he said.

Leading manufacturers of seasonal flu vaccines include Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and CSL’s Seqirus, which includes the old Novartis flu vaccine business.



Lithuania Bids to Save Baltic Seals as Ice Sheets Recede

Lithuania Bids to Save Baltic Seals as Ice Sheets Recede
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Lithuania Bids to Save Baltic Seals as Ice Sheets Recede

Lithuania Bids to Save Baltic Seals as Ice Sheets Recede

The grey seals slide out of their cages into the Baltic Sea near the Lithuanian coast, swimming off to new lives imperiled by climate change, pollution and shrinking fish stocks.

The seals have been nurtured at a rehabilitation center in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.

Survival rates for cubs in the wild can be as low as five percent, according to local scientists.

The Baltic Sea, which is shared by the European Union and Russia, rarely freezes over now, depriving seals of sanctuaries to rear their cubs, AFP reported.

"Mothers are forced to breed on land in high concentration with other seals," said Vaida Surviliene, a scientist at Vilnius University.

"They are unable to recognize their cubs and often leave them because of it," she said.

Rearing cubs ashore also leaves them exposed to humans, other wild animals, rowdy males, as well as a higher risk of diseases, according to Arunas Grusas, a biologist at the center.

Grusas began caring for seals in 1987 when he brought the first pup back to his office at the Klaipeda Sea Museum, which now oversees the new rehabilitation center built in 2022.

"We taught them how to feed themselves, got them used to the water –- they had to get comfortable with the sea, which spat them out ashore practically dying," Grusas said.

The very first cubs were placed into makeshift baths set up in an office.

"It was a sensation for us, there were practically no seals left then," Grusas said.
The scientists had to learn how to nurse the cubs back to health.

First, the cubs were treated to liquid formula before moving onto solid food.

At the time in the late 1980s, the seals were close to extinction –- there were just around 4,000 to 5,000 left in the sea from a population of around 100,000 before the Second World War.

"The population began to decrease drastically in the 1950s due to hunting amid competition with fishers," said Surviliene.

The 1960s also saw the use of pesticides in agriculture that were "incredibly toxic for predators", the scientist said.

The seals at the top of the food chain in the Baltic Sea absorbed the pollution, leaving the females infertile and the entire population with a weak immune system, unable to ward off parasites and resist infections.

After a ban on toxic pesticide use, the population survived, with the current estimates putting the number of grey seals in the Baltic Sea at 50,000 to 60,000.

In a response to overfishing, the European Commission also finally banned commercial cod fishing in the eastern Baltic Sea in 2019.

"Over 80 percent of fish resources in the Baltic Sea have been destroyed, the seals have nothing left to eat," said Grusas.

The ban has yet to show a positive result.

"There has been no fishing of eastern Baltic cod for around five years, but it's not yet recovering -- and it's one of the main sources of food" for the seals, said Darius Daunys, a scientist at Klaipeda University.

Recently a growing number of adult seals have been washing up on Lithuanian beaches.

Scientists like Grusas point the finger at near-shore fishing nets, where seals desperate for food end up entangled and ultimately drown.

Out in the Baltic Sea, the nine released seals took their first swim in the wild.

Previously, GPS trackers showed they favored a route north toward the Swedish Gotland island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, where fish are more plentiful.

Others, however, needed a gentle push from the biologists.

In previous years, the released seals would even follow the boat back to shore, scared to venture off alone.

Eventually they all find their way in the wild.

Grusas is now preparing to retire after dedicating his life to saving animals.

He will leave at a time when the grey Baltic seal population has stabilized, but remains highly vulnerable.

"I've spent my whole life with seals," he said. "I'm tired of the tension –- you just don't know what can happen to them."