The University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester has provided Santa Fe, N.M.-based CytoDyn Inc. with updated influenza vaccines for the 2007-08 flu season, the company announced today.
The DNA-based H1 and H3 serotype vaccines will be used by CytoDyn in clinical trials to evaluate the prime-boost method of vaccination invented by Dr. Shan Lu at UMass Medical.
This new method of vaccination may provide better protection for those at risk of life-threatening complications from seasonal flu, such as the elderly, CytoDyn said.
Dr. Lu is head of the DNA vaccine effort at UMass.
According to CytoDyn, DNA-based vaccines take less time to update than wild or natural virus vaccines based on 19th-century technology still used by a majority of major vaccine providers.
