Monday, Inovio Biomedical Corporation (INO) announced that a combination of its synthetic consensus, or SynCon, H1N1 influenza vaccine achieved protective antibody responses against the novel pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (2009) in 100% of tested ferrets.
Following the promising results in mice and pigs with SynCon H1N1 DNA vaccine candidates, in this study, Inovio said it immunized ferrets with a formulation of H1N1 DNA vaccine candidates. Inovio then tested the ferrets' serum for hemagglutination inhibition, or HI, responses against one of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strains, A/H1N1/Mexico/InDRE4487/2009.
Inovio said HI measurements from the blood of vaccinated animals are used to assess the generation of protective antibody responses. Generating an antibody titer of 1:20 is generally regarded as a positive vaccine response, with a titer of 1:40 or higher in the blood of vaccinated subjects generally associated with protection against influenza in humans.
In the experiment, a single vaccination showed induction of positive immune responses in 78% (7 of 9) of ferrets, with a mean HI titer of 1:42. After two booster shots, 100% of immunized ferrets had HI titers greater than 1:40, with the mean titer rising to 1:390.
Inovio said the ferret model is widely considered to be the most representative of human influenza, and achieving in ferrets a level of antibody titers commonly associated with protection in humans is a critical milestone in influenza vaccine development.
Joseph Kim, Inovio's chief executive officer said, "Our H1N1 vaccine candidates have achieved the desired outcomes in several relevant animal models against multiple unmatched virus strains. We are advancing our program with H1N1 as well as for the H2, H3 and H5 sub-types that would also be components of a universal vaccine. To this end, we have initiated cGMP clinical product manufacturing of our H1N1 SynCon vaccine candidate."
Presenting the data at the Vaccine 3rd Global Congress in Singapore, Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, Inovio's SVP of Research and Development said, "Together with our previously published H5N1 avian flu virus data, which highlighted the vaccine's cross-reactivity and broad immunogenicity across unmatched strains and included protection data in mice, ferrets, and non-human primates, these new H1N1 results further demonstrate the potential to protect against new strains of influenza that do not specifically match the vaccine - unlike conventional vaccines, which are strain-specific and usually provide limited protection against emerging, divergent strains of influenza."
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