BOSTON, March 20, 2009 — Replikins, Ltd. announced today that data recently published from Harvard-CDC and Scripps-Crucell in Nature(1) and Science(2) confirms the 2001 discoveries by Dr. Samuel and Elenore Bogoch of peptides in the hemagglutinin unit of influenza, which they named Replikins, which are shared across flu strains, conserved over time, associated with the last three pandemics of 1918, 1957 and 1968, as well as current H5N1 outbreaks, and are the basis of broad spectrum flu vaccines. The Replikins sequences, as specified by the Bogoches, are the subject of granted patents from 2001 and a 2005 monograph(3).
The amino acid contact points between the neutralizing antibody and the virus that the Harvard-CDC and Scripps-Crucell investigators both observed, out of over 500 possible sites, are in the influenza Replikins. The confirming groups' data also verified the Bogoch 2001 findings of conservation of these very Replikins peptides over decades, and the sharing of Replikins between strains of influenza, making general flu vaccines possible for the first time.
The Replikins peptides, associated with rapid replication, are quantitatively trackable and predictive of the intensity, timing, and country of outbreak. The company's FluForecast(R) software has correctly predicted recent H5N1 outbreaks and the countries in which they were going to occur(4).
Replikins, which are quantitatively related to lethality in influenza and other infectious diseases, such as HIV, anthrax, and malaria, as well as cancer, and a range of animal diseases, are the subject of synthetic vaccines in development at the Company.
- Sui, J. et al. "Structural and functional bases for broad-spectrum neutralization of avian and human influenza A viruses." Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, published online: Feb. 22, 2009, doi:10.1038-nsmb.1566.
- Ekeirt, D.C. et al. "Antibody Recognition of a Highly Conserved Influenza Virus Epitope." Science DOI: 10.1126-science.1171491, Science Published online, Feb. 26, 2009.
- Bogoch, S. and Bogoch, E.S. "Replikins, the Chemistry of Rapid Replication. With examples in influenza, HIV, AIDS, SARS, Malaria, and Cancer." Begell House, Inc., New York, Wallingford, U.K. ISBN 1-56700-200-5, 2005.
- Online (replikins.com): see "Replikins Press," 2006 – 2008. (Press release #12: Indonesia Reports Experiencing Human H5N1 Mortality Increase, as Predicted Last Year by Replikins' FluForecast(R) Quantitative Virus Analysis; June 8, 2007).
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