Universal flu vaccine in the offing

Canberra-based biotech Gamma Vaccines reported today that it is ready to start human clinical trials of a universal flu vaccine which it hopes will soon deliver long term protection against multiple pandemic strains with just a few squirts of a nasal spray.

Called GammaFlu, the product was developed using proprietary technology invented by viral immunologists with the Australian National University’s (ANU) John Curtin School of Medical Research.

Gamma Vaccines is hoping that GammaFlu would be administered as a one-off dose providing years or decades of protection, in much the same way as people are now immunised against diseases like polio or yellow fever.

A specialist in influenza and avian (bird ) flu, Gamma Vaccines said that it has chosen Indonesia as the site of trial, due to its proximity to Australia, but more importantly its large population, and therefore extreme, vulnerability should a major new flu pandemic occur there.

Money for the development of GammaFlu has come from the federal and ACT governments.