Bird Flu :: Australian company Imugene’s new bird flu vaccine

An Australian pharmaceutical company Imugene Ltd. announced successful preliminary trials of a vaccine that protects fowl from bird flu.

Transmission of bird flu to humans and consequent human-to-human transmission has been declared the world’s most serious health threat. Part of a control strategy for bird flu is the vaccination of poultry flocks as long as vaccinated birds can be distinguished from naturally infected birds.

Imugene has developed bird flu vaccine candidates using FAV that when used have the inherent ability to be able to Differentiate naturally Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA principle). Imugene’s vaccines use the patented Fowl Adenoviral Vector containing synthetic and designed generic haemagglutin (HA) and nucleoprotein (NP) genes.

The company said its bird vaccine provided protection for seven of 11 vaccinated birds against a strong dose of the highly pathogenic Asian strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus.


Leave a Comment