LONDON, May 4, 2009 — A synthetic peptide H1N1 vaccine is available now for testing worldwide, from Replikins Ltd. The company has developed the vaccine based on the same Replikins peptide technology which provided the surprise advance warning one year ago that the current H1N1 outbreak/pandemic was on its way (http://www.replikins.com). A unique advantage of the Replikins vaccine is its rapid availability; the WHO, CDC and others have stated that conventionally developed H1N1 vaccines will not be ready for many months. This key advantage is based on the company's ability to swiftly identify, and make molecular vaccines based on, key sub-sequences of the virus genome that are critical to its rapid replication. In contrast with the decades-old production techniques used for most vaccines, the company also takes full advantage of modern peptide synthesis techniques to allow rapid production of its vaccines.
In April 2008, Replikins Ltd. announced the likelihood of H1N1 outbreaks based on the company's patented Replikin Count(TM) genomics technology, which examines specific regions in virus genes that have been linked with past epidemics. The company's chairman, Dr. Samuel Bogoch, found that some of these regions have been conserved for decades. In H1N1 last year the company detected the highest concentrations of these specific regions ever seen, except for those from the 1918 flu pandemic which killed tens of millions of people. To date, no other method has been able to predict whether and what strain of a given organism will threaten a human or animal population.
The same proprietary technology, based on genomic Replikin Count(TM), which permitted one year of advance warning that H5N1 with higher human lethality would strike in 2007, and that H1N1 would strike this year, has been used to manufacture synthetic conserved Replikin vaccines against both these influenza strains, Replikins H5N1 Bird Flu Vaccine(TM) and Replikins H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine(TM), as well as a Replikins PanFlu Vaccine(TM).
The company is producing the new H1N1 vaccine product after achieving independent test results of the safety and efficacy of its synthetic vaccines against two viruses in two different host populations: the lethal Taura virus in shrimp populations, and the avian flu (H5N1) in chicken populations. The company's closely related Replikins vaccine against H5N1 avian flu, produced in a 7-day period, was recently tested at the University of Georgia and shown to block H5N1 virus entry, replication, and excretion in chickens (paper submitted for publication).
Institutions requesting Replikins' H1N1 vaccine for testing should contact John McKenney at Email; +1-617-536-0220.
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