A preliminary study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a flu vaccine made in caterpillar cells is as effective as, and can be produced more efficiently than traditional vaccines that are produced with embryonated hens' eggs.

This vaccine, from Protein Sciences, has been “fast-tracked” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and could be on the market by next year.

Recent concerns that the avian influenza virus could mutate into a strain that is lethal to humans have increased the urgency of developing new methods of manufacturing flu vaccines. Currently, all flu vaccines licensed in the United States are made with eggs and take six to eight months to produce. The egg-based method is also vulnerable to contamination, which caused the massive flu shot shortage of 2004.

Cell-based vaccine production is believed to be less vulnerable to contamination and is capable of producing more vaccine in a shorter period of time.

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Contact: Sandra Bressler, 415/882-5171 or sbressler@cmanet.org.