Sanofi Pasteur Reveals its Research on a "Universal" Influenza Vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur Reveals its Research on a "Universal" Influenza Vaccine

- The vaccines division of Sanofi presents at the World Vaccine Congress in Spain -

Lyon, France - November 9, 2015 - Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, presented today at the World Vaccine Congress being held in Madrid, Spain, on developing broadly cross-reactive antigens against seasonal and pandemic influenza. The World Vaccine Congress in Europe is in its 16^th year and is a major destination for vaccine leaders to share developments in the field.

"As the world's leader in the production of influenza vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur's ambition is to drive innovation and to shape the future by exploring several of the leading influenza vaccine strategies," according to Olivier Charmeil, President and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, the company that supplied over 220 million doses of seasonal influenza vaccines in 2014.

At the World Vaccine Congress, Harry Kleanthous, PhD, Associate VP for Research discussed the paradigm shifting potential of broader-spectrum influenza vaccine approaches that stimulate protection against many influenza strains, unlike the current licensed vaccines that are designed to protect against 3-to-4 strains that are determined before the influenza vaccine production process begins each year.

"We are actively exploring the development of a more-broadly protective influenza vaccine that will be designed to prevent the seasonal mismatches that can occur and that are not addressed using the current technology," explained Dr. Kleanthous. "They are complementary but can be considered 'tailored' antigens in that they are designed to re-focus the immune response to key protective epitopes on the hemagglutinin, which is the active component of our currently licensed influenza vaccines," he continued. "These antigens are still a key player in any flu vaccine, since antibodies directed against them are responsible for preventing the Flu virus from binding to and infecting the cell. Creating new antigens is a central theme in our strategy."

Sanofi Pasteur has an existing R&D collaboration agreement with the University of Georgia on a method that -according to Dr. Kleanthous-, could yield a novel, synthetic vaccine based on the hemagglutinin protein, designed to protect against seasonal influenza strains spanning several years, including drifted strains not yet in existence. Traditional influenza vaccine manufacturers are directed by, and provided with candidate vaccine viruses from public-health authorities determined through active surveillance of influenza viruses circulating each year.