Candidate vaccine viruses being developed internationally

Candidate vaccine viruses are being developed by a number of laboratories as indicated by WHO .

A/California/7/2009 (egg isolate) – classical reassortment and reverse genetics

A/England/195/2009 (MDCK cell isolate) – reverse genetics

A/California/4/2009 (MDCK isolate) – reverse genetics

A/Texas/5/2009 (MDCK isolate) - reverse genetics

A/Ohio/7/2009 (MDCK isolate) - reverse genetics

A/New York/20/2009 (MDCK isolate) - reverse genetics

The candidate vaccine viruses currently available are listed below and are also indicated by WHO

Candidate vaccine viruses available from NIBSC

¹ Safety tests have been completed and are reported by WHO

² Safety tests are not needed as earlier tests of similar reassortants indicate that they are attenuated in ferrets, as described by WHO.

³ Large-scale work can be done under BSL-2 enhanced (pandemic influenza vaccines), or at BSL-2 if there is widespread pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infection locally and a comprehensive risk assessment has been agreed, as described by WHO

Reagents

Reagents for Single Radial Diffusion assay of Influenza A (H1N1)v virus vaccine will be developed by NIBSC and other Essential Regulatory Laboratories. As work progresses, new information will be made available.

¹ Maximum order 30 vials per manufacturing site

² No restriction on number of vials ordered

Ordering candidate vaccine viruses from NIBSC

The conventional reassortants NYMCX-179A , NYMCX-181, NYMCX-181A and IVR-153 and the reverse genetics viruses NIBRG-121, NIBRG-122 and NIBRG-121xp may be ordered at standards@nibsc.hpa.org.uk

Viruses are free of charge (normally a maximum of two vials per recipient), but customers are expected to pay shipping and packaging costs. Reagents for Single Radial Diffusion assay are subject to the usual NIBSC handling charge of £60 per vial, plus shipping and packaging costs. Approved National Control Laboratories for human health are exempt from the £60 handling fee.

Importation of viruses and reagents

If you anticipate ordering any of these materials, we recommend that you contact your local regulatory authorities now and start the process of applying for import permits, as these can take some time to arrange.

Some countries make a distinction between import permits for commercial purposes where the material will be distributed and for research purposes where the material will be consumed within the importing organisation. We advise applying for a RESEARCH permit as the conditions applied will usually be less strict and thus help to avoid delays. You will have to give an undertaking that the materials will not be distributed outside of your organisation. This will usually minimise or even eliminate the import conditions