Hitting the bull's eye for pandemic flu vaccine development

In this month's Lancet Infectious Diseases, a commentary by Sambhara, Bridges, and Poland offers an update on progress toward pandemic influenza vaccine development in the wake of the licensure of Sanofi Pasteur's pre-pandemic vaccine this spring.

The title of the short commentary sums up the authors' assessment: "H5N1 vaccine hits the target, but not the bull's eye." (free abstract). Complementing this metaphor is a graphic which illustrates the specific areas that need to be addressed to produce the "ideal pre-pandemic vaccine." Such a vaccine would be safe (of course), require a single dose with a small amount of antigen, provide long-lasting immunity, and be stable (i.e., capable of remaining potent even if stored for some time).

Given that the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine licensed in April falls far short of these goals, the authors advocate directing research efforts toward these aims in particular.

Speaking of pandemic influenza research, WHO posted on their website late last week a series of tables summarizing the impressive number of vaccine candidates for which clinical trials are underway. As the tables show, while H5N1 is properly commanding the overwhelming majority of attention of late, it is not the only influenza strain with pandemic potential that has attracted the interest of researchers.

With respect to pandemic planning in the U.S., another update was issued late last week by HHS secretary Michael Leavitt. Here's the full report as well as coverage from CIDRAP News. In a brief section on vaccines, the report states that the current pre-pandemic stockpile includes sufficient doses for 6 million people, with a 5-year goal of building enough capacity to produce vaccine for all Americans within six months of 'the' pandemic virus' first appearance.