Inviragen: Grant for avian influenza vaccines

Inviragen received the 2-year, $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support its collaboration with the University of Wisconsin to develop a bird flu vaccine. The will fund the construction and testing of novel vaccines designed to protect against the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus.

“This new project combines Inviragen’s expertise in genetic engineering of vaccines for respiratory diseases with the world-renowned influenza expertise at University of Wisconsin,” said Dr Dan Stinchcomb, Inviragen’s CEO.

“With this funding we will optimise H5N1 antigen expression in Inviragen’s second-generation vaccine vectors. The resulting vaccines will be tested for safety and for the ability to protect animals from H5N1 influenza,” said Dr Jorge Osorio, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin. “Our goal is to develop a vaccine that is easy to manufacture, simple to administer and provides broad protection against multiple H5N1 isolates.”