Novartis VC arm backs universal flu shot company

A British biotech company working on a universal flu vaccine has secured a further £8.65m ($13.6m) of funding from a group of investors including the venture capital arm of Novartis. Privately owned Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) said on Wednesday the cash would allow it to progress its lead candidate FP-01 through to completion of Phase II proof of concept studies. Initial Phase I clinical trials will start this year. Developing a universal flu vaccine to protect people against all flu strains by targeting elements of the virus that do not change from season to season is a "holy grail" of researchers. But such a vaccine has so far eluded pharmaceutical firms and scientists, and those in development are still years away from reaching the market. If successful, universal vaccines would represent a breakthrough and allow governments to build long-term stockpiles against the threat of flu pandemics, like H1N1 swine flu, since stocks would not have to be changed each year. The ITS vaccine - a synthetic and heat-stable product - uses a depot system to deliver high density antigens via nanoparticles to the immune system.