RE: RE: Medicago is still in control...see article
A few interesting paragraphs from article:
'Schaffner, who is a consultant for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on vaccines, said in a telephone interview. “We are at the beginning of some major changes in influenza vaccine technology'
Most seasonal flu vaccines are made by taking versions of the three most-commonly circulating influenza strains and growing the virus in millions of chicken eggs. The virus is then removed from the eggs and damaged so it can’t cause infections. Some strains grow faster than others, and a poorly performing seed virus such as the pandemic swine flu, can delay production, which typically take 5 to 6 months.
Caterpillar Virus
Protein Sciences extracts genes from the dead flu virus and inserts it in a virus that feeds on a tropical caterpillar known as an armyworm. The virus is then exposed to ovary cells harvested from a single caterpillar and reproduced in large quantities. Ovary cells are used because they remain stable as they are cultured in a laboratory.
The caterpillar virus feeds on the ovary cells in vessels similar to those used to ferment beer, and there isn’t the variability of trying to grow a live flu virus that isn’t well adapted for chicken eggs, said Adams of Protein Sciences. The consistency of the caterpillar virus growth cuts down on the manufacturing time.