First H1N1 vaccine set for global testing

A synthetic peptide H1N1 vaccine is available now for testing worldwide, from Replikins. The UK company has developed the vaccine based on the  same Replikins peptide technology that provided the advance warning one  year ago that the current H1N1 outbreak/pandemic was on its way  (Marketletters passim).

A unique advantage of the Replikins vaccine is its rapid availability;  the World Health Organization, the US Center for Disease Control and  Prevention and others have stated that conventionally developed H1N1  vaccines will not be ready for many months. This key advantage, the  company claims, is based on its ability to swiftly identify, and make  molecular vaccines based on, key sub-sequences of the virus genome that  are critical to its rapid replication. In contrast with the decades-old  production techniques used for most vaccines, the company also takes  full advantage of modern peptide synthesis techniques to allow rapid  production of its vaccines.

In April 2008, Replikins announced the likelihood of H1N1 outbreaks  based on the company's patented Replikin Count genomics technology,  which examines specific regions in virus genes that have been linked  with past epidemics. The company's chairman, Samuel Bogoch, found that  some of these regions have been conserved for decades. In H1N1 last  year, the firm detected the highest concentrations of these specific  regions ever seen, except for those from the 1918 flu pandemic which  killed tens of millions of people. To date, no other method has been  able to predict whether and what strain of a given organism will  threaten a human or animal population, the firm said.