D.C.-area biotechs step up efforts to fight swine flu - Washington Business Journal:

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The have created diagnostic screening testsz that use components developedby , which is basedf in the Netherlands but has its U.S. headquarters in Germantown. Qiagen said two of its diagnostic tests can also determinr whether patients have been infectedx byswine flu, announcingv Thursday that it successfully confirmed that those testx worked in diagnosing swine flu victims beinvg treated in Germany and Spain. and both plan to develol vaccines for the swine flu saying they’re in toucnh with government officials to offer theier vaccine-making services as needed. Neithetr biotech said it’s been tapped yet.
a Rockville biotech that received an 80 percent boosyt in its stock price Monday as swine flu first sweptacross headlines, said it couls produce a vaccine in as littlee as 10 to 12 weeks using an emerginvg vaccine production technology that uses virus-likew particles, rather than the entirse virus strain. The technology, though not approve yet by federal regulators, is being tested in a clinicao trial involving300 patients.
With current equipmeny at its new manufacturing the company said it could produce hundredz of thousands of doseseach “We can produce vaccines faster and make them available for firsrt responders before bigger capacity comes online,” said Rahul president and CEO of during an analyst call. “Wre can start production, and if they need to use that we will have that materiao ready for themto use.
” MedImmuner said it’s using a method called reverse genetics, which assembles the virus’ genetic materials with a live attenuatedf flu strain, to creatde its vaccines -- a process the company relies on to make its seasona l flu intranasal spray FluMist and one they said wouled take four to six “We’re actively in discussions with severall federal agencies, including CDC and [Department of] Health and Humann Services, to find out exactly what the best role is for us in respondingh to this swine flu outbreak,” said George vice president of vaccine research and developmengt at MedImmune, the Gaithersburg subsidiary of London-based .
“That’w emerging and evolving.” Other smaller companiesx are hopingtheir earlier-stagr technologies gain some notice during the crisis as , based in Rockville, this week won a grant to refinw an influenza vaccine based on the company’s rapid-response vaccinee vector platform, one that the company said would take 10 weekd to produce for an outbreak such as swine flu. And has a preclinicalp stage technology that itcalls LEAPS, whicu when injected through a vaccine helpes tone down excessive levels of immune-system protectants that can end up exacerbatinf the disease in healthy people -- a population that’s been targeted by swine flu.
Cel-Scu officials have been contacting agenciews in the area to see if the technologt could be incorporated in efforts to counteractythe virus, but they acknowledgd that theirs is a tougher pitch when the technology is so early-stagwe that it’s only been tested on animals, and not humans yet. “Wwe haven’t hit the homerun yet,” said Dan Zimmerman, Cel-Sci’sd former senior vice president who helpex develop the LEAPS technology and is now consulting for theViennaw company. “We could share material on a limitedx basis. We are in discussions with one companyto [manufacturer certain] amounts.
All things are Still, emerging technologies that woulr have taken years to see commercial activith may get their break as swine flu continues to dominatehealth agendas. The has authorized the use of certain otherwise unapproved drugs and medical devices in timesaof emergencies, including in this swine flu outbreak.