Monthly Archives: January 2013

New H1N1 influenza vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved the first trivalent influenza vaccine produced in the insect virus (baculovirus) expression system. The vaccine, known as Flublock, is produced by Protein Sciences Corp, (Meriden, Connecticut, USA) and contains three full-length, influenza hemagglutinin (HA) proteins derived from influenza virus A strains, H1N1 and H3N2, and influenza virus B strain.
The effectiveness of Flublok was evaluated in a study conducted at various sites in the United States that compared the use of Flublok in about 2,300 people to a placebo control group of similar size. The bacculovirus-derived flu vaccine was about 44.6 percent effective against all circulating influenza strains and not just the three HA strains matching the vaccine.The most commonly reported adverse events included pain at the site of injection, headache, fatigue and muscle aches but these adverse event are also typical for present day vaccines.

Cited sources
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm335891.htm?source=govdelivery
http://humanviruses.org/

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