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Medicago up on promising H7N9 vaccine results

Published: 11:47 06 Jun 2013 EDT

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Shares in Medicago Inc. (TSE:MDG) were up more than 5 per cent Thursday, after the biopharmaceutical company reported positive interim results from a preclinical trial for an H7N9 avian influenza VLP vaccine candidate. 

The Quebec City-based company, which focuses on the development of vaccines, reported data proving that three micrograms of the H7 vaccine administered with and without adjuvant induced high concentrations of an antibody after one dose.

"These results are very significant as there is a general concern that H7 vaccines will be of low immunogenicity in humans should a pandemic be declared,” said president and CEO, Andy Sheldon.

“However, our results indicate that our plant-based H7 vaccine is able to generate a high immune response in animal models.  To our knowledge, this is the first report of preclinical results for an H7 vaccine developed for the recent H7N9 virus, further demonstrating that Medicago is well positioned to be a first responder in the face of a pandemic."

The H7N9 serotype of avian influenza virus, or ‘bird flu’, commonly circulates amongst avian populations, although some variants have been known to infect humans; the first reported infection of a human by an H7N9 virus was in China in 2013.

The company had previously tested H7N3 and H7N1 avian vaccines derived from eggs in humans without achieving significant antibody levels even at doses as high as 2x90 micrograms or 2x24 micrograms mixed with alum, it said. 

“Previous vaccines from other technologies also induced very low antibody levels in the mouse model,” said vice-president of product development, Nathalie Landry, “whereas Medicago's results indicate that our H7 vaccine developed for the emerging H7N9 strain elicits a solid antibody response in mice after a single dose. Results from challenge studies will be available in the coming month."

The plant-made vaccine was developed for the H7N9 virus responsible for a recent influenza outbreak in China, which resulted in the deaths of 37 of the 133 reported cases as of May 29, 2013.

The first vaccine lots were available on May 9 2013, 19 days after the company had received the DNA gene from the DNA sequence in GISAID EpiFlu™ Database.

The emerging H7N9 strain appears to be evolving rapidly and is only a few mutations away from being fully transmissible to humans. Unlike other strains of avian flu, the H7N9 virus does not kill the bird population, a characteristic that limits the ability to control the source of infection.

Shares in Medicago had risen as high as 78 cents in intraday trade on the TSX the day of the announcement, from a previous close of 71 cents.

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