Influenza is a dangerous disease, and, unfortunately, none of the drugs that treat it work very well. Vaccination and avoidance to exposure are the only effective ways to prevent influenza and its dangerous side effects. Technology for producing new influenza vaccines is largely outdated, still using chicken eggs for growing the viruses. This old technology is slow and is likely to fail if a new strain of influenza develops that kills birds and their eggs along with infecting humans.
Fortunately, several small companies are working on new approaches for producing influenza vaccines faster, cheaper, and better. Will investors be able to benefit from this innovation? It could be that with patience these small companies could give excellent returns on investment. The safest bet, of course, is to invest in big drug companies that also make vaccines to prevent influenza such as Sanofi-Aventis or GlaxoSmithKline, but better investment returns might be found in some of the smaller companies.
Novavax, Inc is a Maryland-based company using a novel insect cell technology for the development of vaccines for both influenza and measles. Initial safety data from human trials is encouraging, even though this company’s products are still in the early stages of testing. Insect cells are likely to be resistant to flu viruses that can harm eggs.
A different approach is in development by iBioPharma Inc in Newark, Delaware. iBiopharma is allied with the international nonprofit organization Fraunhofer U.S.A. Center for Molecular Biotechnology, and is developing flu vaccines produced in green plants. The technology is supported by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations as well as from government contracts. As with insect cells, plant cells should not be adversely affected by viruses that are harmful to eggs, and there are additional advantages in speed and cost with plant based technologies.
Biotech investments can be risky, but these companies offer a little better safety than some, since their technologies are known in advance as being likely to work, so the risk of unproven therapeutic performance found in other biotech efforts is eliminated. If either Novavax or iBioPharma obtain FDA approval for their novel manufacturing methods, the upside for early investors could be substantial.
Disclaimer: the writer does not currently own any position in the stocks discussed in this article. This article is for educational purposes only and should not be viewed as a recommendation to make any specific investment.
