Improvements relating to meningococcal outer membrane vesicles

摘要

OMVs targeted against specific epidemic strains can be highly effective in controlling localised outbreaks of disease. In combination with large-scale and reproducible manufacturing techniques, a vaccine can be rapidly produced after an outbreak. The invention provides a method for preparing a meningococcal outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccine, comprising the steps of: (i) identifying the serosubtype of a meningococcal strain associated with an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis; (ii) preparing OMVs from a meningococcal strain having the serosubtype identified in step (i) for use in vaccine manufacture. The method may comprise one or both of the further steps of (iii) formulating said OMVs as a vaccine; and (iv) distributing said vaccine in a geographical area affected by or likely to be affected by said outbreak. The meningococcal strain will typically be in serogroup B, but may be instead by in serogroup A, C, W135, Y,