Medicago today announced that it has achieved additional positive results with its vaccine candidate for the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, also known as Swine flu. Results showed that a single dose of 5 micrograms induced a positive immune response against a new emerging strain of this virus in 100% of vaccinated animals.
Medicago's H1N1 VLP vaccine was formulated to protect against the influenza A/California/04/09 virus ("California/04"), which was one of the original viral strains selected by the WHO for vaccine manufacturers. The Company previously reported data from an initial study in mice where its novel vaccine achieved a positive immune response in 100% of the animals vaccinated against the California/04 virus. In a continuation of this study, Medicago tested the immune response of its H1N1 vaccine against the California/07 virus, a more current and mutated strain and showed positive immune response after a single dose of 5 micrograms. The challenge of current pandemic influenza vaccines is they have to match the circulating strain in order to be effective.