Emerging vaccines for influenza

Background: Influenza remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The available vaccines are least effective in the populations at greatest risk - children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Furthermore, avian influenza and other novel strains have the potential to cause the next influenza pandemic. Research efforts have accelerated worldwide to develop new vaccines to provide better immunity against annual epidemics and a potential pandemic. Objective: To summarize the global research efforts at developing new influenza vaccines, adjuvants, and delivery devices. Method: MEDLINE and Pharmaprojects databases were searched for publications and continuing research on new influenza vaccine technologies. Results/conclusions: Technologies such as DNA vaccines, live recombinant viral vector vaccines, and virus-like particles have shown significant promise for immunogenicity and protection from experimental challenge to influenza. New modalities for vaccine delivery and methods for rapid vaccine production are also being investigated. With the possibility of an influenza pandemic increasing the need to develop new vaccines, the global research community has made large strides to meet this challenge.