A British company had applied for permission to conduct the first human
trials in Britain of a vaccine against avian flu, The Times newspaper reported
yesterday.
PowderMed, based in Oxford, had asked the Medicines and
Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for clearance to test its H5N1 vaccine on
75 volunteers at Guy's Hospital in London, the report said.
The vaccine will be administered using a needle-free system, during which
particles coated in the section of DNA needed to make haemagglutinin protein
(the H5 in H5N1), are propelled into the skin using helium.
The trial aims to find the right dose to produce an immune response to
protect against the H5N1 virus.
The company had conducted trials in the United States of a vaccine for
seasonal flu, the newspaper said.
John Beadle, the chief medical officer at PowderMed, said it would be
possible to create a new vaccine in about 10 weeks, much more quickly than
traditional vaccines that are developed in hens' eggs.
He said the H5 vaccine could be licensed in the next two years.
