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Science 4 August 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5787, p. 601
DOI: 10.1126/science.313.5787.601b
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ScienceScope

For the first time, a vaccine against the avian influenza strain H5N1 has shown promise at low doses, making it a possible candidate for use in a pandemic. In a statement issued last week, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said that a trial involving 400 healthy volunteers in Belgium revealed that two vaccine shots of just 3.9 micrograms each were enough to elicit antibodies against the flu strain.

Previously tested pandemic vaccines, which have consisted of killed copies of a genetically engineered virus, were efficacious only at much higher doses of up to 90 micrograms injected twice (Science, 12 August 2005, p. 996). Because most flu vaccines are still produced using chicken eggs, production is difficult to scale up; that's why experts say a so-called dose-sparing vaccine such as GSK's is essential to protect large numbers of people in a pandemic. GSK declined to reveal the nature of the so-called adjuvant, an immune-boosting ingredient, in its vaccine. "We need to see more data," says Frederick Hayden, an influenza expert at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, "but it looks like an encouraging result."




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)