CR6261 is a monoclonal antibody that binds to a broad range of the influenza virus including the 1918 "Spanish flu

Spanish flu

The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...

" (SC1918/H1) and to a virus of the H5N1

H5N1

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu", A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...

 class of avian influenza that jumped from chickens to a human in Vietnam in 2004 (Viet04/H5). In contrast to most antibodies generated by exposure to influenza, which can only neutralize a few strains from within a single virus subtype, CR6261 neutralizes numerous strains from multiple subtypes. CR6261 recognizes a highly conserved helical region in the membrane-proximal stem of hemagglutinin, the predominant protein on the surface of the influenza virus. Based upon the conservation of the amino acid sequence on this part of hemagglutinin, CR6261 is predicted to neutralize roughly 50% of all flu viruses. It was found by The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute is an American medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and...

 and the Dutch biopharmaceutical company, Crucell

Crucell

Crucell is a biotechnology company specializing in vaccines and antibodies. The firm, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is headquartered in Leiden, Netherlands...

.