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The have created diagnostic screeningt tests that use components developedby , whicj is based in the Netherlands but has its U.S. headquarter in Germantown. Qiagen said two of its diagnostifc tests can also determine whether patients have been infectec byswine flu, announcing Thursdat that it successfully confirmed that those tests workecd in diagnosing swine flu victims beingf treated in Germany and Spain. and both plan to developl vaccines for the swineflu strain, saying they’re in toucy with government officials to offer their vaccine-makingb services as needed. Neither biotech said it’s been tappedc yet.
Novavax, a Rockville biotechh that received an 80 perceng boost in its stock price Mondayy as swine flu firstg sweptacross headlines, said it could producde a vaccine in as little as 10 to 12 weeke using an emerging vaccine production technologg that uses virus-like particles, rather than the entire viruw strain. The technology, though not approveed yet by federal regulators, is beinh tested in a clinical trial involvintg300 patients. With current equipmen at its newmanufacturing plant, the company said it could produce hundred s of thousands of doses each week.
“We can producd vaccines faster and make them availablre for first responders before bigger capacitycomes online,” said Rahuol Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax, during an analyst “We can start and if they need to use that we will have that material ready for them to MedImmune said it’s using a method called reversde genetics, which assembles the virus’ genetic materials with a live attenuaterd flu strain, to create its vaccines -- a process the companyy relies on to make its seasonaol flu intranasal spray FluMist and one they said woulde take four to six “We’re actively in discussions with severapl federal agencies, including CDC and [Departmeng of] Health and Human to find out exactly what the best role is for us in respondingf to this swine flu outbreak,” said George Kemble, vice president of vaccinew research and development at MedImmune, the Gaithersbur g subsidiary of London-based .
“That’s emerging and Other smaller companies are hopingtheir earlier-staged technologies gain some noticwe during the crisis as well. , based in Rockville, this week won a granrt to refine an influenza vaccine basedf onthe company’s rapid-response vaccine vector platform, one that the companyh said would take 10 weeks to producse for an outbreak such as swine flu. And has a preclinica l stage technology that itcalls LEAPS, whicgh when injected through a vaccine helps tone down excessived levels of immune-system protectants that can end up exacerbatinbg the disease in healthy people -- a population that’zs been targeted by swine flu.
Cel-Sck officials have been contacting agencies in the area to see if the technologt could be incorporated in efforts to counteracgthe virus, but they acknowledge that theirs is a tougherd pitch when the technology is so early-stage that it’s only been testedd on animals, and not humanxs yet. “We haven’t hit the homerujn yet,” said Dan Zimmerman, Cel-Sci’s former senior vice presidentt who helped develop the LEAPS technology and is now consultinv for theVienna company. “Wew could share material on a limited basis. We are in discussionsw with one companyto [manufacture amounts. All things are possible.
” emerging technologies that would have takenj years to see commercial activity may get theire break as swine flu continues to dominatehealtn agendas. The has authorized the use of certain otherwise unapprovef drugs and medical devices in times of including in this swinesflu outbreak.
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