title: Aflunov®: a vaccine tailored for pre-pandemic and pandemic approaches against influenza.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aflunov is an egg-derived, subunit vaccine from Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics containing 7.5 μg of hemagglutinin (HA) from the avian A/H5N1 virus and the oil-in-water adjuvant MF59.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aflunov behaves as a pre-pandemic vaccine. It has a good safety profile at all ages. At all ages, it induces high and persisting antibody titers and activation of HA-specific Th0/Th1 CD4(+) T cells, the levels of which correlate with the neutralizing antibody titers after a booster dose 6 months later. Aflunov triggers strong immunological memory, which persists for at least 6 - 8 years and can be rapidly boosted with a heterovariant vaccine strain, inducing very high neutralizing antibody titers within one week. These antibodies broadly and strongly cross-react with drifted H5N1 virus strains from various clades. Finally, the MF59 changes the pattern of HA recognition by antibodies that react with the HA1 more than with the HA2 region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The available data show that Aflunov is a pre-pandemic vaccine suitable not only for stockpiling in case of a pandemic, but also before a pandemic is declared, with the ultimate objective of preventing the onset of an influenza pandemic.
authors.affiliation: Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Siena, Italy. giuseppe.del_giudice@novartis.com
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Del Giudice
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fragapane
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Della Cioppa
authors.forename: Rino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rappuoli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines