UK swine flu vaccine trial shows 'strong response'

Results from the first swine-flu vaccine trials taking place in Britian have revealed a strong immune response after administering just one dose.

The pilot study, run by the University of Leicester and Leicester Hospitals, was tried with 100 healthy volunteers, aged between 18 and 50.

Dr Iain Stephenson, who led the trial at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: "The clinical trial of Novartis MF59-adjuvanted cell-based A (H1N1) vaccine indicates that the 'swine flu' vaccine elicits a strong immune response and is well-tolerated.

The trial evaluated the tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine, and tested different schedules of vaccination, in terms of time between vaccinations.

The vaccine schedule was one or two doses of 7.5 microgram MF-59 adjuvanted surface-antigen A/California/2009 vaccine derived from cell-culture.