Subscribe to Newsletter
Manufacture Vaccines

Just One Shot

A universal flu vaccine is on the agenda for a research team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The team has developed a vaccine that uses mRNA molecules formulated in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) that encode HA proteins to create a strong antibody response.

“Today’s flu vaccine is about 60 percent effective, on average, and has to be reformulated every year. This is not really good enough given that flu causes extensive disease and significant mortality,” says Drew Weissman, a professor of infectious disease at the university and co-author of the study. “We are hoping to develop a better vaccine. Two things need to be improved; the first is efficacy and the second is durability of protection. We believe that a modified mRNA-LNP vaccine can do both.”

Weissman and the team have shown that their vaccine offers protection against distant flu strains in mice and protection in ferrets against homologous and related viruses – and they claim that the magnitude of antibody response has been huge. Once injected, the RNAs are taken up by the immune system and then copied, mimicking a real flu infection and leading to a good antibody response. After immunization, a strong antibody response to the vaccine lasted for thirty weeks. “Many different vaccine platforms have been studied for their ability to develop a universal flu response. Unlike most others, we used a common immunogen, HA, which is used in almost every flu strain. This resulted in a broadly protective response,” explains Weissman.

Other studies have shown that mRNA-based vaccines could offer protection against influenza, but Weissman says that none of these studies have looked at using mRNA-based vaccines to neutralize distinct flu strains with a single shot. The vaccine can also be made quickly. Production of conventional, FDA-approved vaccines for pandemic viruses can take months, but mRNA-LNP vaccines can be made in a matter of weeks once the genetic sequence of the target HA antigen has been identified.

“mRNA-LNP vaccine production is sequence-independent and can be applied to virtually any pathogen,” says Weissman. “We are now evaluating improved immunogens to improve both the HA stalk response and broadly protective responses in mice and ferrets.”

Receive content, products, events as well as relevant industry updates from The Medicine Maker and its sponsors.
Stay up to date with our other newsletters and sponsors information, tailored specifically to the fields you are interested in

When you click “Subscribe” we will email you a link, which you must click to verify the email address above and activate your subscription. If you do not receive this email, please contact us at [email protected].
If you wish to unsubscribe, you can update your preferences at any point.

  1. N Pardi et al., “Nucleoside-modified mRNA immunization elicits influenza virus hemagglutinin stalk-specific antibodies,” Nature Communications, 9 (2018). PMID 30135514
About the Author
Stephanie Vine

Making great scientific magazines isn’t just about delivering knowledge and high quality content; it’s also about packaging these in the right words to ensure that someone is truly inspired by a topic. My passion is ensuring that our authors’ expertise is presented as a seamless and enjoyable reading experience, whether in print, in digital or on social media. I’ve spent fourteen years writing and editing features for scientific and manufacturing publications, and in making this content engaging and accessible without sacrificing its scientific integrity. There is nothing better than a magazine with great content that feels great to read.

Register to The Medicine Maker

Register to access our FREE online portfolio, request the magazine in print and manage your preferences.

You will benefit from:
  • Unlimited access to ALL articles
  • News, interviews & opinions from leading industry experts
  • Receive print (and PDF) copies of The Medicine Maker magazine

Register