A cheap, mass producible, widely effective vaccine that provides near life long immunity. Is it too early to say Nobel Prize?
The “holy grail” of flu treatments, the jab would fight off everything from a winter virus to a bird flu outbreak.
Two injections could give long-lasting immunity, unlike the current vaccine which has to be given every year.
The jab, which has been developed by scientists at Cambridge biotech firm Acambis, may also work better than the existing jab, which only protects around three-quarters of those vaccinated.
The universal flu jab, which has just been tested on people for the first time, is also quicker and easier to make, meaning vast quantities could be stockpiled against a global outbreak of bird flu.
The new vaccine is grown in huge vats with only two pints of liquid providing 10,000 doses. Normally, the vaccine would have to go through another five years of human trials before going on the market.
Read on at the Daily Mail…