"Results presented here show that the virosomal H5N1 vaccine induced balanced Th1/Th2 cytokine responses and that Matrix M(TM) is a promising adjuvant for future development of candidate pandemic influenza vaccines."
"Over the past couple of decades, the regulators have approved only a few adjuvants, other than aluminium salts. Novartis’s MF59 – an emulsion containing naturally occurring squalene oil and water - has been licensed as part of the seasonal flu vaccine. And three adjuvant systems by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are approved as part of vaccines against shingles, pandemic flu and HPV.
Another potent and safe adjuvant is a compound called immunostimulating complex (Iscom). Iscoms are cage-like nanospheres that form when saponin is mixed with two types of fats. An example is Matrix M, included in the COVID vaccine, made by the US biotech company Novavax.
The authorised mRNA vaccines against COVID – made by Pfizer and Moderna – also contain an adjuvant. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a set of genetic instructions for our cells to make the spike protein, which is found on the surface of the coronavirus. The adjuvants in mRNA vaccines are lipid or polymer-based nanoparticles that protect and stabilise the fragile mRNA and improve its uptake by our immune cells
