US-based Blue Water Vaccines has an option on University of Oxford research into a universal influenza shot and is looking to raise $15m in funding.

Blue Water Vaccines, a US-based influenza shot developer based on University of Oxford research, is seeking $15m in funding from undisclosed investors. Blue Water has entered an option agreement with Oxford to advance the concept of a universal influenza jab pioneered in the Department of Zoology. The vaccine will function by hitting viral modules whose attributes vary less than the epitopes targeted by conventional flu injections, as such prompting a comprehensive immune response against all strains and potentially creating life-long immunity. Influenza viruses can grow resistant to antiviral drugs at present, endangering high-risk patient groups such as older people and pregnant women who are vulnerable to severe symptoms without adequate flu protection. Blue Water will pump funds from the $15m round into continued Oxford studies into the vaccine by researchers including Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, and Craig Thompson, a postdoctoral research scientist in virology. Sunetra Gupta said: “About 10 years ago, we predicted that regions of the virus that were limited in variability would drive the evolution of influenza. “Using mathematical models, we showed that these regions would cycle between a limited number of conformations in time, in tandem with the development of immunity within the human population. “Due to their limited variability and the ease with which immunity can be built up against them, such regions make ideal vaccine targets.”

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