One of the critical problems for getting pandemic vaccines out there is a bottleneck formed by the necessity of tests to determine their potency, but a new type of test — VaxArray — may bring immediacy to the system.
“With the 100th year anniversary since the 1918 influenza pandemic, there has been much discussion at every level of government and within the global vaccine industry about the gaps that remain in our ability to rapidly respond to deadly pandemic,” Kathy Rowlen, CEO of VaxArray’s maker, InDevR, said. “We have addressed a critical gap with this new potency test. The VaxArray platform represents a breakthrough that could significantly streamline delivery of safe and efficacious influenza vaccines in the event of a pandemic.”
The test has proven successful with influenza H5, H7, and H9 vaccines. Its capabilities — published in npj Vaccines — reveal high accuracy, sensitivity, precision, and detection. It is also fast — it beat the current competition among such assays by a sample-to-result time of 2 hours against their two days. Further, it not only works with low dose vaccines but also crude in-process samples, meaning that manufacturers could also utilize the test to optimize the yield among their creations.
According to Nancy Cox, retired former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza Division, such an advance could result in fewer illnesses, hospitalizations and, most importantly, deaths.