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Replikins

3D Science.com, Zygote Media Group Inc., image manipulation: Shakena Thornton

Replikins

It takes six to nine months to develop a conventional flu vaccine and much of the wait stems from how long it takes to grow the virus in chicken eggs and then harvest it. But a Boston-based company called Replikins says it can reduce the lag time by using genetic information about the virus to prepare a synthetic vaccine. Replikins scientists, who warned of a potential outbreak of H1N1 a year before it occurred, say they have a synthetic vaccine ready for testing now.