Eureka for Influenza Prevention! Cell-Based Vaccines of the Future

ReachMD Announcer:
Welcome to ReachMD. This medical industry feature, titled “Eureka for Influenza Prevention! Cell-Based Vaccines of the Future,” is sponsored by CSL Seqirus.

Voiceover:
Attention, traditional egg-based vaccines! A cell-based alternative is ushering in a new era for prevention of seasonal influenza. But how, you may ask? Well, through the many marvels of science, of course! But more specifically, innovations in creating a potentially more effective differentiated vaccine.

Since time immemorial, we’ve known that the best way to decrease illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths due to influenza is to vaccinate.¹ And egg-based influenza vaccines have been a mainstay for more than 60 years.²

But there are several unpredictable factors that impact vaccine effectiveness from year to year. One of them is the phenomenon of egg adaptation during the egg-based influenza vaccine manufacturing process.³  

After influenza strains are isolated from humans and chosen for the vaccine, the virus is injected into the egg.³ 

But mutations occur while the virus grows inside that egg, because human flu viruses can’t bind to the receptors of avian cells.³

Rather, they must mutate to replicate in eggs. This process is called “egg adaptation.” And part of this learning process can involve changes in the virus’s hemagglutinin protein molecule that allow the influenza strains to become more fit to grow in avian cells.³

But some egg-adapted mutations may cause hemagglutinin to be antigenically different from the selected strains. As a result, antibodies developed against egg-based vaccines may not bind well as well to the circulating flu strains.^3,4 

And the potential result of this antigenic change? You guessed it: strain mismatch that can reduce vaccine effectiveness.^1,3,5

This represents a potential threat to public health where we may see strain mismatch like in the seven out of ten U.S. flu seasons from 2010 to 2020 that were mismatched seasons—of which nearly half were caused by the ol’ egg adaptation.^6-16

But there’s good news over yonder hill and vale! 

Yes, friends, I’m talking about cell-based influenza vaccines, an innovative technology that, well…avoids egg adaptation altogether!⁵

With cell-based vaccines, healthcare professionals can now ask, “Why put all of our eggs in one basket?” 

Gone are the days of solely relying on eggs to grow influenza virus.¹⁷ Take a holiday, chickens; you’ve earned it!

Influenza vaccines made in mammalian cell lines provide an exact antigenic match to the World Health Organization’s selected influenza strain. How? Through extensive quality control measures and genetic sequencing during the manufacturing process, of course.² It’s a high-fidelity manufacturing precision fit for the future…but brought to you today!

Cell-based vaccines use a continuous cell line grown in suspension, supporting high viral yields, and making them well-suited to rapid scalability.^18-20 Why, a viable vaccine could even be made available as early as 10 days.²¹ Take that, influenza! 

So gather your esteemed colleagues from far and wide, and be sure to spread the news with both verve and gusto. Because when it comes to choosing influenza vaccines, the world of tomorrow is available today! 

ReachMD Announcer:
This program was sponsored by CSL Seqirus. If you missed any part of this discussion, visit ReachMD.com/IndustryFeature. This is ReachMD. Be Part of the Knowledge.

References:

1. CDC. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden-averted/2021-2022.htm. Accessed July 6, 2023.
2. Milian E, Kamen AA. Current and emerging cell culture manufacturing technologies for influenza vaccines. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:504831.
3. Rajaram S, Boikos C, Gelone DK, Gandhi A. Influenza vaccines: the potential benefits of cell-culture isolation and manufacturing. Ther Adv Vaccines Immunother. 2020;8:1-10.
4. Harding AT, Heaton NS. Efforts to Improve the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine. Vaccines (Basel). 2018;6(2):19.
5. Rockman S, Laurie K, Ong C, Rajaram S, McGovern I, Tran V, Youhanna J. Cell-Based Manufacturing Technology Increases Antigenic Match of Influenza Vaccine and Results in Improved Effectiveness. Vaccines. 2023; 11(1):52.
6. Skowronski DM, Janjua NZ, De Serres G, et al. Low 2012-13 influenza vaccine effectiveness associated with mutation in the egg-adapted H3N2 vaccine strain not antigenic drift in circulating viruses. PLoS One. 2014;9(3):e92153.
7. Zost SJ, Parkhouse K, Gumina ME, et al. Contemporary H3N2 influenza viruses have a glycosylation site that alters binding of antibodies elicited by egg-adapted vaccine strains. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114(47):12578-12583.
8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Update: influenza activity--United States, 2010-11 season, and composition of the 2011-12 influenza vaccine. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2011;60(21):705-712.
9. Ohmit SE, Thompson MG, Petrie JG, et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness in the 2011-2012 season: protection against each circulating virus and the effect of prior vaccination on estimates. Clin Infect Dis. 2014;58(3):319-327.
10. McLean HQ, Thompson MG, Sundaram ME, et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness in the United States during 2012-2013: variable protection by age and virus type. J Infect Dis. 2015;211(10):1529-1540.
11. Gaglani M, Pruszynski J, Murthy K, et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness against 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) virus differed by vaccine type during 2013-2014 in the United States. J Infect Dis. 2016;213(10):1546-1556.
12. Zimmerman RK, Nowalk MP, Chung J, et al. 2014-2015 influenza vaccine effectiveness in the United States by vaccine type. Clin Infect Dis. 2016;63(12):1564-1573.
13. Jackson ML, Chung JR, Jackson LA, et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness in the United States during the 2015-2016 season. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(6):534-543.
14. Flannery B, Chung JR, Belongia EA, et al. Interim estimates of 2017-18 seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness - United States, February 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018;67(6):180-185.
15. Flannery B, Kondor RJG, Chung JR, et al. Spread of antigenically drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses and vaccine effectiveness in the United States during the 2018-2019 Season. J Infect Dis. 2020;221(1):8-15.
16. Tenforde MW, Kondor RJG, Chung JR, et al. Effect of antigenic drift on influenza vaccine effectiveness in the United States-2019-2020. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;73(11):e4244-e4250.
17. Hegde NR. Cell culture-based influenza vaccines: A necessary and indispensable investment for the future. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2015;11(5):1223-34.
18. Ulmer JB, Valley U, Rappuoli R. Vaccine manufacturing: challenges and solutions. Nat Biotechnol. 2006 Nov;24(11):1377-83.
19. Doroshenko A, Halperin SA. Trivalent MDCK cell culture-derived influenza vaccine Optaflu (Novartis Vaccines). Expert Rev Vaccines. 2009 Jun;8(6):679-88.
20. Gregersen JP. A quantitative risk assessment of exposure to adventitious agents in a cell culture-derived subunit influenza vaccine. Vaccine. 2008 Jun 19;26(26):3332-40.
21. Dormitzer PR, Suphaphiphat P, Gibson DG, et al. Synthetic generation of influenza vaccine viruses for rapid response to pandemics. Sci Transl Med. 2013 May 15;5(185):185ra68.

USA-CRP-23-0010 11/23