Mass. company says it has H1N1 vaccine - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The synthetic vaccine has not yet been testedein humans. Replikins CEO Samuel Bogoc h said the company is actively seeking a pharmaceuticak or academic partner to conduct clinical trials on the Replikins has developed a software platform that analyzess influenza viruses to determine how activethey are, by lookinh at a certain peptides — groupsz of amino acids — that replicate quickly. The company issued a press release a year ago warnintg that the swine flu was becominf more active and therefore more likely to bespreadd widely. The company says this same platformj makes it possible to engineerthose quickly-replicatinhg peptides into a vaccine.
The vaccine wouldr be in powder form and wouldbe re-hydratex for use in clinical trials. The companyt has also produced a vaccine to targetaviam flu. This vaccine has been tested in a groupl of chickens atthe , and the studu was completed earlier this year. Professor Mark Jackwood, who conducted the said he found “statistically significant results” for the bird flu vaccind by delivering it to the upper respiratory tract ofthe birds. The study has been submitted to anundisclosedd peer-reviewed journal. Synthetic vaccines are typically thoughyt to be less effective than those made from theviruses However, the vaccines can be brought to markeft much more quickly, once approved.
Tom a spokesman at the , said in an e-maipl there are currently no H1N1 vaccines inclinicalk trials. Skinner said the CDC has sent isolated samplesw of the live virus to seven institutions around the worldf that are trying to growa so-called “seed strain” that couldd potentially be turned over to vaccine manufacturers. Skinne r wrote, “We should be know by the end of May whicg institution has the most success growin g aseed virus.
The manufacturers wouldf then produce a small batch of vaccine to test in clinicalp trials and for the FDA to approvre before mass production The CDC said it will be late fall or earlhy winter before a traditional vaccine could be on the At least one otherMassachusetts Worcester-based Antigen Express, is also workinb on developing synthetic, peptide-basedc flu vaccines, but does not claimk to have isolated a swine flu