Retroscreen Virology receives €630,000 to start first clinical study of avian influenza vaccine
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The UK CRO Retroscreen Virology is planning to start its first clinical study of a novel, culture-based intranasal vaccine against diverse strains of avian influenza (H5N1), along with other members of a European consortium. Other consortium members include Archimedes Development, the University of Leicester, the National Institute of Biological Standards Control, and Evicom.
The UK CRO [Retroscreen] Virology is planning to start its first clinical study of a novel, culture-based intranasal vaccine against diverse strains of avian influenza (H5N1), along with other members of a European consortium. Other consortium members include Archimedes Development, the University of Leicester, the National Institute of Biological Standards Control, and Evicom.
The trial is expected to start next year and will be funded with €630,000, which the consortium recently received from the EU's seventh research framework programme (FP7).
The programme, which began in 2007, is the EU's main instrument for funding research in Europe and aims to strengthen the EU's science and technology base.
Before starting the trial, the company first plans to characterise a weakened H5 virus in people before the end of the year or the beginning of next year.
Preclinical work has demonstrated several potential advantages of the intranasal vaccine, [Retroscreen] says. As it raises antibodies in the mucosa of the nose, it halts the virus at its point of entry. The vaccine can also induce systemic immunity, and its needle-free delivery is expected to improve patient compliance. Self-administration could also reduce the cost of delivery. In addition, the vaccine is designed to be used against more diverse strains of the flu virus, and so it is expected to provide greater protection than vaccines currently available.
However, potential drawbacks of the vaccine are that its intranasal delivery means it might not work well enough, and it could be a "delicate balancing act" to ensure that the virus replicates sufficiently.
There are other vaccines in development for H5N1. GlaxoSmithKline's pre-pandemic flu vaccine Preprandrix was recently approved in the EU (Scrip Online, May 19th, 2008). .
unique CRO
Besides its in-house activities developing its flu vaccine, [Retroscreen]'s main focus is on conducting in vitro testing and clinical studies (in particular, Phase IIa efficacy studies) for global pharmaceutical clients to evaluate antivirals and vaccines.
"We're a contract research organisation fundamentally," the CEO of [Retroscreen], Dr Robert Lambkin-Williams, told Scrip. "We don't generally do our own stuff." However the fact it does both makes it the only company in Europe of its kind. "We are very unique in that respect," Dr Lambkin-Williams said.
"We're very much a scientifically-led organisation. We're not a commodity CRO... we came out of an academic background and are specialists in viruses and virology."
The firm is working with Novartis on an antirespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) drug and recently completed an RSV study with Alnylam. [Retroscreen] has worked with other companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Chiron and Crucell, and has done a lot of work with Roche on its drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir).
As for its own research, "we won't stay in respiratory virology. We will move out into hepatitis," Dr Lambkin-Williams said.
going public?
In the near future, the company plans to move from its current location in Camden, London, to a new innovation centre being built in Whitechapel and is considering setting up other local business development offices.
The firm would like to secure a partner at some point; it is already in early discussions with other large CROs and would also consider going public. It had a turnover of £5.6 million last year and is aiming for £10 million this year. "We've had a 75% increase in turnover for the last four years," Dr Lambkin-Williams said.
[Retroscreen] was founded in 1989 and at the time was majority-owned by the University of London. Initially, it started out doing HIV work, with its retrovirus screening technology resulting in the development of the HIV protease inhibitor sequinavir. "We've grown slowly initially but then a couple of years ago we had an investment from a group called IP Group which allowed the firm to grow more quickly." Currently there are 60 employees working at [Retroscreen].