While the world’s leading infectious disease experts consider whether the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, could become the next pandemic, a Holly Springs company is working on a vaccine to protect humans from another deadly virus.
H5N1 is a strain of bird flu that kills 60% of the people it infects. Seqirus, of Holly Springs, announced on Monday that it got a major FDA approval of a drug to fight that strain of the flu.
While H5NI is highly infectious and dangerous, it is rare for it to spread from humans to humans.
The H5N1 strain isn’t prevalent right now, but work on vaccines can take months, so Seqirus’ work now can help the world be prepared should an outbreak happen.
The drug, called Audenz, is part of a national pandemic preparedness program.
