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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
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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.

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Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Women’s heart disease risks and their need to start taking preventive medications should be evaluated when they are in their 30s rather than well after menopause as is now the practice, said researchers who published a study on Saturday.

Presenting the findings at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in London, they said the study showed for the first time that simple blood tests make it possible to estimate a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease over the next three decades.

"This is good for patients first and foremost, but it is also important information for (manufacturers of) cholesterol lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and lipoprotein(a)lowering drugs - the implications for therapy are broad," said study leader Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Reuters reported.

Current guidelines “suggest to physicians that women should generally not be considered for preventive therapies until their 60s and 70s. These new data... clearly demonstrate that our guidelines need to change,” Ridker said. “We must move beyond discussions of 5 or 10 year risk."

The 27,939 participants in the long-term Women’s Health Initiative study had blood tests between 1992 and 1995 for low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”), which are already a part of routine care.

They also had tests for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) - a marker of blood vessel inflammation - and lipoprotein(a), a genetically determined type of fat.

Compared to risks in women with the lowest levels of each marker, risks for major cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes over the next 30 years were 36% higher in women with the highest levels of LDL-C, 70% higher in women with the highest levels of hsCRP, and 33% higher in those with the highest levels of lipoprotein(a).

Women in whom all three markers were in the highest range were 2.6 times more likely to have a major cardiovascular event and 3.7 times more likely to have a stroke over the next three decades, according to a report of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine published to coincide with the presentation at the meeting.

“The three biomarkers are fully independent of each other and tell us about different biologic issues each individual woman faces,” Ridker said.

“The therapies we might use in response to an elevation in each biomarker are markedly different, and physicians can now specifically target the individual person’s biologic problem.”

While drugs that lower LDL-C and hsCRP are widely available - including statins and certain pills for high blood pressure and heart failure - drugs that reduce lipoprotein(a) levels are still in development by companies, including Novartis , Amgen , Eli Lilly and London-based Silence Therapeutics.

In some cases, lifestyle changes such as exercising and quitting smoking can be helpful.

Most of the women in the study were white Americans, but the findings would likely “have even greater impact among Black and Hispanic women for whom there is even a higher prevalence of undetected and untreated inflammation,” Ridker said.

“This is a global problem,” he added. “We need universal screening for hsCRP ... and for lipoprotein(a), just as we already have universal screening for cholesterol.”