sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
By Michelle Fay Cortez and Trista Kelley
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc plans to begin production of a swine flu vaccine once it receives a seed virus from health authorities, and the governments of the U.K., France, Belgium and Finland placed orders for the shots.
The contracts will speed production of an immunization even before public health authorities can gauge how severe this year?s swine flu outbreak will be. The four countries were the first to make orders, purchasing more than 158 million inoculations from London-based Glaxo and Baxter International Inc., based in Deerfield, Illinois.
The government orders preempt a decision on vaccine production by the World Health Organization, which has been tracking the disease as it spread across 34 countries and infected 7,520 people. A WHO advisory group yesterday said it needed more information about the severity of disease before it can say whether companies should start making a vaccine.
?Scientists tell us that as yet we don?t know enough about this novel strain, or whether it?s likely to mutate, but that this virus has the potential to become a pandemic and we can?t predict how serious that would be,? U.K. Secretary of State Alan Johnson said today in a statement. ?We have an opportunity to secure vaccine in advance of a pandemic wave.?
The purchases may be a sign of conflict to come as countries compete for supplies, should the flu spread further and turn more virulent, said David Fedson, an independent infectious disease specialist and former vaccine developer for Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA.
?Moral Right?
?There are political issues here,? he said in a telephone interview. ?Just because you?re first in a queue doesn?t mean your people have a moral right to the vaccine.?
Four of every 1,000 people infected with the bug in Mexico by late April died, making it more contagious than seasonal flu and rivaling the severity of the 1957 Asian flu pandemic that killed 2 million people, a study in the May 11 edition of the journal Science found.
Glaxo will provide as many as 128 million doses for the European countries, and is in talks with ?quite a few? other governments, spokesman Stephen Rea said in an interview today. The orders could boost the company?s sales by about 600 million pounds ($912 million) in 2009, if the shot is priced similar to previous flu vaccines and the company can deliver it by the end of the year, said Simon Mather, an analyst at WestLB AG in London.
Each country has to make its own decision on whether and when to purchase pre-pandemic influenza vaccines, said Marie- Paule Kieny, director of the WHO?s initiative on vaccine research, in an e-mailed response to questions. The agency is currently negotiating to gain access to the immunization for developing countries, she said.
?National Decision?
?This is a national decision,? Kieny said. ?Too much haste may result in no vaccine being available to low-resource countries, which would go against the WHO recommendation that equity should be a main consideration.?
Glaxo plans to start manufacturing the immunization once it receives a so-called ?virus seed? from the WHO, essentially the raw ingredient the company will use to develop the vaccine, Glaxo said in a statement. The first doses of the shot should be available four to six months later, pending regulatory approval, Glaxo said in a statement today.
Baxter, which uses a different production technology, already received the virus samples it needs and is testing the material to see how well it will grow, said Chris Bona, a company spokesman. The process will take several weeks before the company can start manufacturing, he said.
?Since this is a new virus, overall timelines cannot be projected,? he said in a telephone interview.
In Talks
Novartis AG is in talks with governments on possible vaccine stockpiles, Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the company in Basel, Switzerland, said in a telephone interview. Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for vaccine producer Sanofi-Aventis SA of Paris, didn?t immediately return a call for comment.
Glaxo said it will continue to make its seasonal flu shot, and plans to complete the process in July. Seasonal flu infects as many as 5 million people worldwide each year and kills 250,000 and 500,000 of them, according to the WHO?s Web site. Most patients experience two to seven days of mild illness, after which they recover without medical treatment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in London at mcortez@bloomberg.netTrista Kelley in London at tkelley2@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=akYivm21d3Tc&refer=uk
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc plans to begin production of a swine flu vaccine once it receives a seed virus from health authorities, and the governments of the U.K., France, Belgium and Finland placed orders for the shots.
The contracts will speed production of an immunization even before public health authorities can gauge how severe this year?s swine flu outbreak will be. The four countries were the first to make orders, purchasing more than 158 million inoculations from London-based Glaxo and Baxter International Inc., based in Deerfield, Illinois.
The government orders preempt a decision on vaccine production by the World Health Organization, which has been tracking the disease as it spread across 34 countries and infected 7,520 people. A WHO advisory group yesterday said it needed more information about the severity of disease before it can say whether companies should start making a vaccine.
?Scientists tell us that as yet we don?t know enough about this novel strain, or whether it?s likely to mutate, but that this virus has the potential to become a pandemic and we can?t predict how serious that would be,? U.K. Secretary of State Alan Johnson said today in a statement. ?We have an opportunity to secure vaccine in advance of a pandemic wave.?
The purchases may be a sign of conflict to come as countries compete for supplies, should the flu spread further and turn more virulent, said David Fedson, an independent infectious disease specialist and former vaccine developer for Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA.
?Moral Right?
?There are political issues here,? he said in a telephone interview. ?Just because you?re first in a queue doesn?t mean your people have a moral right to the vaccine.?
Four of every 1,000 people infected with the bug in Mexico by late April died, making it more contagious than seasonal flu and rivaling the severity of the 1957 Asian flu pandemic that killed 2 million people, a study in the May 11 edition of the journal Science found.
Glaxo will provide as many as 128 million doses for the European countries, and is in talks with ?quite a few? other governments, spokesman Stephen Rea said in an interview today. The orders could boost the company?s sales by about 600 million pounds ($912 million) in 2009, if the shot is priced similar to previous flu vaccines and the company can deliver it by the end of the year, said Simon Mather, an analyst at WestLB AG in London.
Each country has to make its own decision on whether and when to purchase pre-pandemic influenza vaccines, said Marie- Paule Kieny, director of the WHO?s initiative on vaccine research, in an e-mailed response to questions. The agency is currently negotiating to gain access to the immunization for developing countries, she said.
?National Decision?
?This is a national decision,? Kieny said. ?Too much haste may result in no vaccine being available to low-resource countries, which would go against the WHO recommendation that equity should be a main consideration.?
Glaxo plans to start manufacturing the immunization once it receives a so-called ?virus seed? from the WHO, essentially the raw ingredient the company will use to develop the vaccine, Glaxo said in a statement. The first doses of the shot should be available four to six months later, pending regulatory approval, Glaxo said in a statement today.
Baxter, which uses a different production technology, already received the virus samples it needs and is testing the material to see how well it will grow, said Chris Bona, a company spokesman. The process will take several weeks before the company can start manufacturing, he said.
?Since this is a new virus, overall timelines cannot be projected,? he said in a telephone interview.
In Talks
Novartis AG is in talks with governments on possible vaccine stockpiles, Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the company in Basel, Switzerland, said in a telephone interview. Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for vaccine producer Sanofi-Aventis SA of Paris, didn?t immediately return a call for comment.
Glaxo said it will continue to make its seasonal flu shot, and plans to complete the process in July. Seasonal flu infects as many as 5 million people worldwide each year and kills 250,000 and 500,000 of them, according to the WHO?s Web site. Most patients experience two to seven days of mild illness, after which they recover without medical treatment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in London at mcortez@bloomberg.netTrista Kelley in London at tkelley2@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=akYivm21d3Tc&refer=uk