Local Company Says It Can Cut Flu Vaccine Production Time In Half

ROCKVILLE, Md (WUSA) -- How long would it take to deploy a vaccine for swine flu? Experts say four to six months with current technology.

But shares of a Rockville biotech company soared this week on word that it could cut vaccine development time in half.

Novavax's seasonal flu vaccine is still in clinical trials. But if federal health officials give the word, the company says it could ramp up production and have a pandemic vaccine ready in 10 to 12 weeks.

For 60 years, manufacturers have used the same old technology to develop new flu vaccines -- guess the strain, pump it into chicken eggs, harvest the virus, and kill it with chemicals before injecting it into humans.

Novavax is working on something completely different.
Using the genetic sequence of the Mexican swine flu strain, it's creating what it calls a "virus-like particle." "They look and feel like the actual virus," says CEO Rahul Singhvi. "But they don't have the machinery inside that is required for them to replicate and cause disease."

In a small lab in Rockville's biotech corridor, Novavax is growing gallons of the virus like particles. Three proteins mimic the outer shell of the swine flu virus, tricking your body into responding with antibodies that should be just as effective in fighting off the real thing.

"So when you give this entity to the human body, and the immune system sees this, it reacts as if it has been infected naturally with the virus, because these particles look so authentic to the immune system, says Singhvi. "But because these particles are unable to replicate and grow, they cannot overwhelm your system and cause disease."

Novavax has already tested it's seasonal flu vaccine on hundreds of adults -- and it says it was effective and well tolerated.

Novavax says it's ready to move to Stage Three trials on a large population of people. But the FDA can waive those requirements in an emergency.

Still, the company says it will take 10 to 12 weeks to produce large quantities of vaccine. That sounds like a long time for this fast moving crisis. But it's far shorter than the alternative.