FluGen, with new study results, seeks money, partners to get flu vaccine approved

Lindsay Hill-Batorski does vaccine research at FluGen in Madison. STATE JOURNAL ARCHIVES

Lindsay Hill-Batorski does vaccine research at FluGen in Madison. STATE JOURNAL ARCHIVES

 

Nearly 81% of adults who got a high dose of Madison-based FluGen’s experimental flu vaccine in a study had a broad immune response and 71% had a significant response to a particular flu protein, the company reported Wednesday.

The findings, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, come as FluGen continues other studies of older adults and children who are receiving the vaccine, known as M2SR, which uses a self-limiting version of the influenza virus.

The company, based on research by UW-Madison scientists Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Gabriele Neumann, is raising money and exploring relationships with large drug companies to conduct larger studies that could lead to approval of its intranasal vaccine within four years, its leader said.

“Now we’re in the stage of big money,” said Paul Radspinner, CEO of FluGen, which has a dozen employees and headquarters at University Research Park on Madison’s West Side. “At this point, we are seeking capital and potentially partners, the bigger pharma companies.”

FluGen is also working on a new way of protecting against flu and COVID-19 in one vaccine, an approach that could also be applied to RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.

Read More