Influenza protection company Seqirus has announced the filing of an annual strain update with the FDA.
The update includes the company’s decision to manufacture their cell-based influenza vaccine (Flucelvax Quadrivalent) for the 2019/2020 flu season. The vaccine will use a cell-based candidate vaccine virus (CVV) for 4 influenza strains identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the upcoming flu season.
Each flu season, the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) provides CVVs, with manufacturing seeds produced from CVVs used to copy the virus in eggs or cells. These copies allow drug manufacturers to mass produce flu vaccines equivalent to the strains determined by the WHO, according to the statement.
A recent study compared egg-based CVVs to cell-based CVVs in order to evaluate which vaccine produces the closest match to the seasonal viral strain of the past 12 seasons. The study found cell-based H3N2 CVVs were more similar to the circulating strain than egg-based H3N2 CVVs.
While egg-based CVVs have paved the way to flu vaccination, manufacturers at Seqirus highlight the need for other vaccine development strategies.
