Grant: Project Grant

Influenza viruses represent a public health threat worldwide, infecting 5-20% of the population each year, causing annual epidemics leading to ~500,000 deaths every year. Besides seasonal influenza, intermittent pandemic influenza poses the real threat of increased mortality and morbidity. The emergence of highly pathogenic influenza strains with pandemic-potential H5N1 (2003) and H1N1 (2009), have infected millions with thousands of fatalities in the last decade alone. The recent, highly fatal H7N9 strain (2013-2017) represents an ominous trend. In the 2018 flu season, a number of children died due to influenza infections in Canada. Worldwide, influenza infections can be prevented by prophylactic vaccines. An effective vaccine can control the spread and limit the devastating consequences of influenza infection. However, current influenza vaccines suffer from limited efficacy, require annual updates and provide short-term protection. In addition, it takes ~6 months after detection of a new strain to produce a vaccine, and another 2-6 weeks to be effective. World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that an outbreak of 1918-like pandemic influenza could claim the lives of >100 million people before a matching vaccine could be prepared. Therefore, there is a high unmet need to discover a universal influenza vaccine to prevent deadly infections. We have discovered a novel vaccine technology, which has huge potential to be developed as a universal influenza vaccine. In this project, we will conduct preclinical efficacy (against different subtypes of influenza virus), dose and schedule optimization and toxicity studies of the novel vaccine candidates in animal models. These studies will facilitate the clinical development of the vaccine candidate and strengthen the value of the IP. Development of a universal cross-protective vaccine providing protection against multiple influenza virus strains will have a major impact on health of Canadians and people worldwide.