MedImmune has the expertise to address target diseases with a wide variety of vaccine technologies

Some of these technologies include:

Live, attenuated vaccine: Uses live but weakened virus to induce immunity, as is done with FluMist® (Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal), the only nasal spray influenza vaccine approved in the United States to help prevent seasonal influenza in eligible individuals ages two to 49 years old. It is designed to stimulate an immune response that closely resembles the body’s natural reaction to an infection by using a live, weakened virus.

The live, attenuated vaccine concept is also applicable in the development of pandemic vaccines:  Experts believe an influenza pandemic is a potentially significant threat to global public health, and currently, no vaccines have shown high efficacy in providing protection against pandemic strains.  MedImmune’s innovative live, attenuated flu vaccine has many attributes that may make it well-suited platform for an effective pandemic vaccine.  High yields during the production process means a large quantity of doses can be manufactured in a relatively short period of time; It has the capability to protect vaccinated people from different influenza strains. The nasal spray aspect of the vaccine has the potential to enhance the global availability and utility of the vaccine

Reverse genetics: Reverse genetics is a method by which viruses such as influenza can be generated from segments of DNA.  Reverse genetics can be particularly useful in the development of pandemic vaccines because the process does not require manufacturers to work directly with potentially highly infectious strains such as H5N1, rather only with segments of the virus’s genome. Reverse genetics is also being applied in the development of seasonal influenza vaccine.  For example, like all influenza vaccines in the U.S., FluMist is a combination of three different influenza strains chosen by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Vaccine containing the new strains must be made every year, and reverse genetics dramatically improves our capabilities of doing so efficiently.

Viral vectored vaccines: Advances in molecular virology have facilitated an understanding of the regulation of viral replication, gene expression, and molecular pathogenesis. At the same time, this understanding has enabled the development of novel viral vectors useful for vaccination. A variety of such vectors have now been advanced in preclinical and clinical studies. Depending on their ability to target antigen presenting cells, ability to develop packaging lines, inherent immunogenicity of both the vector and insert, and other factors, these viral vectors are helping to improve vaccine efficacy in a variety of infectious disease models. Vectored vaccines place genetic material from the disease into a harmless virus, which presents the material to the immune system to elicit specific immune responses.

Virus like particles: (VLPs) consist of viral protein(s) derived from the structural proteins of a virus. In some cases these proteins are embedded within a lipid bilayer. These particles resemble the virus from which they were derived but lack viral nucleic acid, meaning that they are not infectious. VLPs used as vaccines are often very effective at eliciting both T cell and B cell immune responses. The human papillomavirus and Hepatitis B vaccines are the first virus-like particle based vaccines approved by the FDA.

Subunit vaccines: These vaccines contain purified antigens rather than whole organisms. Subunit vaccines are not infectious, so they can safely be given to immunosuppressed people; and they are less likely to induce unfavorable immune reactions that may cause side effects. Other protein vaccines that induce good protective immunity are the diphtheria and tetanus toxoid components of DPT. These are toxins that have been treated to eliminate their toxicity; they are still able to induce antibodies that can neutralize the native toxins.