Blue Water Vaccines Inc revealed on Thursday the launch of an agreement with the option to exclusively license a novel and potentially revolutionary universal influenza vaccine Blue Water Vaccines.

In conjunction with the option agreement, Blue Water Vaccines will complete its fund-raising of USD15m to support the flu vaccine programme.

The flu vaccine has reportedly been developed by scientists at Oxford University and published in Nature Communications in 2018.

According to the company, the licensed vaccine protects against all influenza strains by targeting parts of the virus that induce a protective immune response but are also limited in variability. The technology has the potential of providing life-long immunity against flu. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Influenza is a major respiratory pathogen. It is estimated that there are over almost 500,000 deaths a year caused by influenza. The current influenza vaccines have serious shortcomings since it has to be administered yearly and typically provides protection to only 50% of the individuals who receive it.