Novartis Says Experimental Vaccine Protects Against Avian Flu

Novartis’ investigational bird flu vaccine Aflunov generated a rapid immune response in individuals who had received a separate vaccine as much as six years earlier, according to the company.

Fifty-four healthy adults age 23–60 received two doses of the vaccine at intervals of 21 days, Novartis says of the open-label study. Twenty-four subjects had received either MF59-adjuvanted or an unadjuvanted H5N3 vaccine at least six years earlier while the other 30 had not been “primed” with such a vaccine. Some subjects got a booster dose 16 months later.

The primed subjects displayed a protective immune response seven days after a single immunization with the investigational vaccine, Novartis says in a statement. “The immune response was broadly cross-reactive and covered all H5N1 clades known to date,” the company adds. “Responses were seen even against viral strains not included in either vaccine.”