Indeed, according to Dr. Gambotto, there are several major advantages to this type of vaccine development approach over traditional approaches. Flu vaccines currently are prepared in fertilized chicken eggs, a process developed more than 50 years ago that requires millions of fertilized eggs that would be in short supply if a pandemic--a widespread, global outbreak--were to occur. The recombinant vaccine approach grows the vaccine in cell cultures, which are unlimited in supply. Another major advantage of this approach is its speed.

"It takes a little over a month for us to develop a recombinant vector vaccine compared to a minimum of several months via traditional methods," he explained. "This capacity will be particularly invaluable if the virus begins to mutate rapidly, a phenomenon that often limits the ability of traditional vaccines to contain outbreaks of mutant strains." Dr. Gambotto added that his group is planning a small clinical trial of the vaccine in humans in the very near future.

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26-Jan-2006