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Tuesday, 8 September 2009 - 20:39
2nd UPDATE:Novartis Has Swine Flu Vaccine Shortfall -Dutch Government
AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)-
Novartis AG (NVS) has a shortfall of its swine flu vaccine and wont be able to meet its deadline to supply the Netherlands with a first batch of 18 million doses, the Dutch health ministry said Tuesday.
The Dutch government had ordered the delivery of around 20 million vaccines by the end of October, with 18 million supplied by Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis and the remainder from the U.K.'s GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK).
However, Novartis wasn't able to meet its deadline due to "disappointing production results," the Dutch health ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it now expects to receive 6 million to 10 million doses by the end of October.
Ministry spokesman Toon van Wijk said manufacturing the swine flu vaccine is a biological process and it is "hard to control the outcome." He couldn't say when Novartis will be able to deliver the remainder of the ordered doses.
Novartis aims "to make as much vaccine available as quickly as possible," it said in an emailed statement. The company said that delivery timelines and volumes were hurt by the low yield of the seed strain it had received from the World Health Organization. Novartis added it is now working to improve yields through a new seed strain from the WHO.
The Dutch health ministry has ordered 34 million vaccines against the swine flu virus, also known as H1N1, or about two doses a person. The first batch was expected to be delivered by the end of next month, while the second one is scheduled at a later stage.
2nd UPDATE:Novartis Has Swine Flu Vaccine Shortfall -Dutch Government
AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)-
Novartis AG (NVS) has a shortfall of its swine flu vaccine and wont be able to meet its deadline to supply the Netherlands with a first batch of 18 million doses, the Dutch health ministry said Tuesday.
The Dutch government had ordered the delivery of around 20 million vaccines by the end of October, with 18 million supplied by Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis and the remainder from the U.K.'s GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK).
However, Novartis wasn't able to meet its deadline due to "disappointing production results," the Dutch health ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it now expects to receive 6 million to 10 million doses by the end of October.
Ministry spokesman Toon van Wijk said manufacturing the swine flu vaccine is a biological process and it is "hard to control the outcome." He couldn't say when Novartis will be able to deliver the remainder of the ordered doses.
Novartis aims "to make as much vaccine available as quickly as possible," it said in an emailed statement. The company said that delivery timelines and volumes were hurt by the low yield of the seed strain it had received from the World Health Organization. Novartis added it is now working to improve yields through a new seed strain from the WHO.
The Dutch health ministry has ordered 34 million vaccines against the swine flu virus, also known as H1N1, or about two doses a person. The first batch was expected to be delivered by the end of next month, while the second one is scheduled at a later stage.
