Flucelvax, an immunization made by biotechnology company CSL using cell-based technology, was about 36 percent more effective in preventing flu-like illness last winter than conventional shots made using chicken eggs, Bloomberg reports.
Although scientists have long used eggs to grow flu viruses for vaccines, they found once inside the egg, flu tends to have adaptive changes that make it better suited to chickens than people. Amplifying vaccine viruses in mammalian cell culture aims to prevent that issue.
During the 2017-2018 flu season, CSL's Seqirus unit made 21 million doses using the cell-based technology at a plant in Holly Springs, N.C. A process improvement program the FDA recently approved will allow the company to increase supply and respond quicker in case of a flu pandemic or vaccine shortages.
"With egg-based vaccines, you need to order more eggs and need more chickens," said CSL CEO Paul Perreault. "But cells can be generated immediately."
CSL collected EMRs from 92,192 patients who received a cell-based vaccine and 1,255,983 people who received an egg-based vaccine between Aug. 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018. The company found the cell-based vaccine was 36.2 percent more effective in preventing flu-like illness. The sample population consisted of U.S. patients over age 4 who received either vaccine form in a primary care setting.
"This is a real advance," said Mr. Perreault. "Cell-based technologies are showing effectiveness. It tends to give a better match and will help tremendously in the confidence for consumers to go out and get vaccinated."
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