Vaccinated animals were challenged with nasal exposure of live H1N1 A/Mexico/4482/2009 (MX/4482) influenza virus strain that was distinct from the H1N1 A/California/04/2009 strain against which the vaccine was derived. The MX/4482 challenge strain was isolated in Mexico from a female patient with severe respiratory disease and was described in a study published on July 24, 2009 in the journal Science by the CDC and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology. In that study, this virus strain was demonstrated to replicate efficiently in the respiratory tract and cause significant disease in ferrets. After three (3) days post challenge, animals immunized with the 15 mcg dose of the H1N1 VLP vaccine had no detectable virus recovered in nasal washes and showed no signs of disease. By day five (5) after challenge, immunized ferrets at all vaccine dose levels had cleared the H1N1 virus and showed no sign of disease. In contrast, control animals that received no vaccine displayed lethargy, elevated body temperatures and shed infectious virus for up to six (6) days post infection.

"Demonstrating that our influenza VLP vaccine candidate protects against the pandemic H1N1 virus in an animal model is another important milestone for us to have met," said Dr. Gale Smith, Vice President of Vaccine Development. "An even broader significance of this study is that these data, for the first time, indicate that a vaccine against H1N1 A/California/04/2009 influenza strain has the potential to protect against the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus."

www.novavax