How caterpillars may help us fight flu

Possibly some good news on the vaccine front:

Protein Sciences Corp. may win backing from a U.S. panel today for a flu vaccine that can be produced in a third of the time it takes Sanofi-Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG to make their shots.

The shot, called FluBlok, is produced in less than two months by inserting flu genes into an insect virus and growing it in caterpillar ovary cells. Closely held Protein Sciences, backed by $147 million in U.S. contracts, is seeking to become the country’s first supplier to break from the 50-year-old technique of growing the vaccine in chicken eggs.

via Flu Shot Made From Caterpillars May Win U.S. Vote (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

First, very cool:  slashing the time it takes to produce flu vaccines would allow the medical community to be a lot more nimble when it comes to responding to the latest flu threats.

Second:  no mention if there’s any cross-reactivity with the new vaccine for those individuals with chicken egg allergies and whether this approach will be safe for them, but the potential is there.

Third:  caterpillars have ovaries? 

Addendum: this failed–apparently the studies weren’t big enough to ensure safety for mass production.