Butantan may resume clinical trials for tetravalent influenza vaccine

The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) authorized the start of the phase III clinical trial of the tetravalent vaccine against Influenza, produced by the Butantan Institute. Initial tests were authorized in 2019, but the pandemic halted progress. The tetravalent vaccine has two strains of the B lineage of the virus in the same formulation, which increases protection.

Posted by

Marcela Guimarães

March 1, 2023 09:42

“The study aims to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and consistency of the immune response in vaccine batches”, informed Anvisa.

Today, the National Vaccination Program of the Ministry of Health uses the trivalent vaccine, composed of the fragmented and inactivated influenza virus, containing strain A (H1N1), strain A (H3N2) and strain B (Victoria and Yamagata lineage).

The production process for the tetravalent vaccine, according to Anvisa, is similar to that of the trivalent vaccine, but has even greater protection against strains of the virus.

“It is expected to obtain a vaccine analogous to the trivalent, but with additional protection against a second B strain, determined seasonally by the World Health Organization. The addition of the second B strain of influenza (fourth strain in the vaccine) occurred in the transition from the bivalent seasonal vaccine to the trivalent, after the H1N1 influenza pandemic”, informed the agency.

(Source: Agência Brasil)