LONDON, March 6 (UPI) -- A British pharmaceutical firm says it has developed a bird flu vaccine that can provide protection against variants of the H5N1 avian influenza strain.
GlaxoSmithKline in London said clinical trial data show the firm's pre-pandemic split antigen H5N1 vaccine provides a substantial level of cross-immunity against a diverse strain of H5N1.
"The data confirm that our pre-pandemic influenza vaccine has the ability to recognize and kill an H5N1 strain that is different to the one contained in the vaccine," said Jean Stephenne, president of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. "This means proactive administration of our pre-pandemic vaccine before or just after the start of the pandemic could help to substantially slow down the spread of disease."
Pandemic influenza poses a serious global public health threat. While the exact strain that might cause a pandemic can't be predicted, some experts believe the H5N1 strain, now endemic in many bird species around the world, is the most likely candidate pandemic strain.
"We believe this vaccine will provide governments with a new option to help protect their populations against the threat of a future human influenza pandemic," said David Stout, president, of GSK Pharmaceuticals.
