BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BVXV)

[midastouch017]

Back to the Future: Study Published in Vaccine Journal Indicates BiondVax's Universal Flu Vaccine Candidate May Cover Strains Which Don't yet Exist

NESS ZIONA, Israel, January 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: BVXV, TASE: BVXV), developer of the Universal Flu Vaccine candidate M-001, reports the publication this week of an article titled, "Back to the future: Immunization with M-001 prior to trivalent influenza vaccine in 2011/12 enhanced protective immune responses against 2014/15 epidemic strain" in the prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal Vaccine.

The Vaccine article reports that blood plasma samples from people who received M-001 in 2011 (as part of BiondVax's BVX-005 clinical trial in the elderly) showed significantly increased protective antibodies against the new epidemic 2014/15 flu strain (A/Swiss) - a strain which did not exist when M-001 was administered to the BVX-005 participants.

Despite the $4.3 billion market[1], current flu vaccines have many shortcomings including that they are specific to just 3 or 4 existing flu strains, and must be reformulated each year. Furthermore, seasonal flu vaccine effectiveness is only about 40% on average[2], and as low as 9% in the elderly[3] who are the most at risk group. Conversely, as a universal flu vaccine candidate, M-001 is designed to provide improved and broad protection against all current and future seasonal and pandemic flu strains.

The study reported in Vaccine offers evidence of the broadening protective effects offered by M-001, a significant advantage over current flu vaccines.

Dr. Tamar Ben-Yedidia, BiondVax's Chief Scientist and co-inventor of M-001, commented, "We consider this study to provide validation of M-001's potential. It is a promising indication that our vaccine may provide improved protection against future flu strains, including potentially pandemic strains that don't yet exist!"

The article also discusses M-001's mechanism of action. It is available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X1631297X.