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Eurocine Vaccines’ nasal seasonal influenza vaccine candidate Immunose™ FLU will be profiled towards the pediatric market. Inhouse ferret data support that Immunose™ FLU can prime influenza naïve individuals and induce a protective immune response including high virus neutralising titers.
The non-replicating nature of Immunose™ FLU and clinical safety data together support an attractive safety profile for children from six months.
Eurocine Vaccines AB (XSAT: EUCI), today announced that their nasal seasonal influenza vaccine candidate Immunose™ FLU will focus on the pediatric market. This is the fastest growing segment in the influenza market, with more and more countries recommending general seasonal influenza vaccination of children. Eurocine Vaccines has recently filed two patent applications to further strengthen the IP around Immunose™ FLU, in particular for the pediatric profile.
Children under five years have been identified as a risk group for severe influenza infection and the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a recommendation to vaccinate children six months to five years against influenza. The US has a general recommendation that everyone over six months old should be vaccinated against seasonal influenza and the UK will launch a new program with free influenza vaccination of children 2-17 years. In addition, six other European countries and Canada recommend influenza vaccination of children this season.
The live, attenuated influenza vaccine FluMist has a well-documented protective effect in children and has also shown superior protection compared to an injected influenza vaccine. However, due to safety limitations, FluMist is not indicated for children under two years of age, one of the most vulnerable groups within the paediatric segment.
Immunose™ FLU is composed of inactivated (non-replicating) antigen formulated with the company’s proprietary adjuvant Endocine™. The vaccine is administered intranasally and has completed a Phase I/II clinical trial with excellent safety results. Immunose™ FLU thereby has the potential to become a safe vaccine for children from six months of age. It has been shown to induce comparable virus neutralising titers as FluMist in influenza naïve ferrets, indicating that Immunose™ FLU can reach similar levels of protection as FluMist in children.
“We have identified the paediatric segment as a niche where Immunose™ FLU can really make a difference and increase the protection against influenza in children from 6 months of age. Our data suggest that Immunose™ FLU can provide good protection against influenza while retaining an attractive safety profile”, says Hans Arwidsson, CEO of Eurocine Vaccines.
The new profile will be presented at the Phacilitate Vaccine Forum in Washington on January 29th.
