HHS Announces Generation Gold Standard, an Initiative Promoting Whole-Virus Vaccines

The HHS and NIH have announced a universal vaccine platform called Generation Gold Standard, which uses a “beta-propiolactone (BPL)-inactivated, whole-virus platform.”

This initiative funds the “NIH’s in-house development of universal influenza and coronavirus vaccines, including candidates BPL-1357 and BPL-24910. These vaccines aim to provide broad-spectrum protection against multiple strains of pandemic-prone viruses like H5N1 avian influenza and coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS-CoV.”

NIH director Jay Bhattacharya said that this new initiative will extend vaccine protection “beyond strain-specific limits and prepares for flu viral threats…using traditional vaccine technology brought into the 21st century.”

The initiative was developed by NIAID. The BPL-inactivated whole-virus vaccines “preserve the virus’s structural integrity while eliminating infectivity. This approach induces robust B and T cell immune responses and offers long-lasting protection across diverse viral families.” The BPL platform is also “fully government-owned and NIH-developed.” It is “adaptable to future use against [RSV], metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza. It also offers the unprecedented capability to protect against avian influenza without inducing antigenic drift – a major step forward in proactive pandemic prevention.”