Abstract
Improved influenza vaccines are urgently needed to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and to ensure a rapid and effective public-health response to future influenza pandemics. The Influenza Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap (IVR) was created, through an extensive international stakeholder engagement process, to promote influenza vaccine R&D. The roadmap covers a 10-year timeframe and is organized into six sections: virology; immunology; vaccinology for seasonal influenza vaccines; vaccinology for universal influenza vaccines; animal and human influenza virus infection models; and policy, finance, and regulation. Each section identifies barriers, gaps, strategic goals, milestones, and additional R&D priorities germane to that area. The roadmap includes 113 specific R&D milestones, 37 of which have been designated high priority by the IVR expert taskforce. This report summarizes the major issues and priority areas of research outlined in the IVR. By identifying the key issues and steps to address them, the roadmap not only encourages research aimed at new solutions, but also provides guidance on the use of innovative tools to drive breakthroughs in influenza vaccine R&D.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6573-6584 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Vaccine |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 45 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 29 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Coauthor received grants to the organization from Sanofi Pasteur, received grants from US CDC, PATH, Wellcome Trust, South African MRC. (CC)
Funding Information:
In recent years, researchers have worked toward improving seasonal influenza vaccines, accelerating development and production of those vaccines, and generating broadly protective and more durable vaccines. New programs have been initiated, such as the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) program funded by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [13] , the European Union (EU)-India Joint Call [14] , and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development [15] . In addition, in 2018, NIAID published its strategic plan for universal influenza vaccine development [16] and in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Influenza Strategy 2019–2030 calling for the development of better global tools, including improved, novel, and universal influenza vaccines, by 2030 to benefit all countries and instill public confidence and uptake [1] . Researchers are exploring innovative technologies, including new vaccine platforms (such as virus-like particles, nanoparticles, DNA-based, mRNA-based, recombinant proteins, and viral vectors) and novel constructs (such as chimeric hemagglutinin [HA] vaccines, “headless” HA vaccines, or computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen [COBRA] vaccines) to stimulate broadly neutralizing antibodies and cross-reactive T cell immune responses [17–22] . These innovations hold promise toward creating next-generation influenza vaccines and toward streamlining the development process to enhance timeliness and efficiency.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
Keywords
- Broadly protective influenza vaccines
- Influenza
- Pandemic preparedness
- Roadmap
- Seasonal influenza vaccines
- Universal influenza vaccines
