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Posted on 01/20/2006 8:01:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
As a 5-year-old boy in Turkey battles bird flu, NBC11's Marianne Favro reports scientists at a Sunnyvale lab are developing a vaccine to protect against the deadly virus known as H5N1.
“I anticipate testing at the CDC against H5N1 within 18 months,” says Jeff Fairman.
Fairman is the research director at Juvaris Biotherapeutics, a start-up with only four employees.
The National Institutes of Health just awarded the company and Stanford University almost $1 million to work on a new vaccine that may protect against both the seasonal flu and bird flu.
“We’ve developed a vaccine product that is effective against multiple strains of influenza A.
Bird flu is just one of more than a dozen strains of influenza A. What is unique about the vaccine developed here is that it targets both the inside and outside proteins of the virus, causing the body to rapidly develop antibodies and jump-start its own immune response.
The new approach also allows the vaccine to cast a wider net to fight many different strains.
Fairman says, “It would give us better protection because it safeguards you against potential mutations that may occur as the virus spreads.”
Preliminary studies in mice show the vaccine is effective in fighting several forms of the flu.
Even if development goes smoothly, it will still likely be at least four years before Juvaris vaccine will be tested on people to see if it will offer protection against the deadly bird flu.
Juvaris is not the only Bay Area company working to fight bird flu.
Chiron Corporation in Emeryville is also developing a vaccine.
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(CBS 5) Treating the flu is not easy. Some patients have already developed a resistance to the anti-viral Tamiflu. And so far, there is no vaccine.
But the federal government has some big hopes for a small Bay Area Biotech firm. A Sunnyvale startup beat out big firms for a million-dollar federal grant aimed at tackling the deadly bird flu.
Researchers at Juvaris Biotherapeutics have developed a vaccine that can respond to a variety of flu strains.
“We got dramatic results. If you look at the data for flu-a it's amazing,” says CEO Martin Cleary.
That got the attention of the National Institutes of Health. The idea is that the companies existing vaccine can be adapted relatively quickly to respond to the bird flu.
“I'm optimistic that we'll be done in 18 months,” Cleary says.
If clinical trials are successful, the vaccine could be produced for government stockpiles in four years. It’s an aggressive timeline, that’s because the risk of a pandemic increases with every new human case.
Currently, the disease is passed between birds and people through direct contact. But there is a possibility that the virus could mutate.
“The real danger is the human to human. When it's passed as a flu virus -- that's a concern,” says Research Director Jeff Fairman.
Within hours of announcing the federal grant, Cleary attended a biotech industry conference in San Francisco, drumming up a lot of attention, and more money to complete the ambitious project.
FYI - I think I have everyone.
Is that a 'dot' in England?
infeection = infection
Thanks, got it. Birds but, not humans. I hadn't heard about this one.
Yes, it was in a pet bird being imported into the country.
In England, birds are women.
Yup, the parrot. I did hear about that one.
I have heard some people say you are a sarcastic guy, so am I right in assuming that you find bird flu hysteria to be as asinine as I do?
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