Baxter's H5N1 vacc meets Ph I/II endpoints

US health care firm Baxter says that data published in the June 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine show that its candidate avian influenza H5N1 vaccine, Celvapan, met Phase I/II trial endpoints for safety and generating a functional immune response. This is the first peer-reviewed publication of study results for the product, the first cell culture-derived avian influenza vaccine to undergo clinical evaluation.

"Cell-culture technology could represent the future of influenza vaccine production," said John Oxford, professor of Virology at the Queen Mary School of Medicine, London, UK. "Baxter has demonstrated the ability to rapidly make large quantities of the vaccine that may protect people against divergent H5N1 viruses," he added.

Baxter's Vero cell technology may offer several advantages versus conventional egg-based vaccine technology, noted the firm, adding that its is more rapid due to its ability to use a native virus that does not need to be modified to allow growth in chicken eggs, therefore accelerating production. Hartmut Ehrlich, vice president of R&D for Baxter's BioScience business, said: "this is an immunogenic vaccine without the need for an adjuvant to boost the response."