HHS awards H5N1 contracts

[Reeves]

1. HHS awards H5N1 contracts
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The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a total of $199.45 million to three vaccine makers in order to stockpile 5.3 million additional doses of H5N1 vaccine. The bulk of the money--$117.9 million--has been awarded to Sanofi Pasteur for 3.7 million doses of the drug. Novartis has received $40.95 million for 800,000 doses and GSK also garnered $40.6 million for 800,000 doses. "These newest vaccine purchases supplement the existing stockpile of 5.9 million doses of H5N1 vaccine and build on the department's plans to buy enough vaccine for 20 million people," HHS stated in a press release. At two 90-microgram doses per person, HHS says these purchases provide enough courses to vaccinate nearly 2.7 million people. Initial studies of these vaccines show that they may protect against the bird flu, but the HHS noted that further testing is underway to fully determine their effect.
- see the HHS press release
Related Articles:
Switzerland to stockpile GSK's bird flu vaccine. Report
Novartis wins $220M flu vaccine contract. Report
Sanofi vaccine effective against new bird flu strains. Report

 

[Reeves]

Re: HHS awards H5N1 contracts

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<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD class=MessageCell>From Bloomberg's version of the story (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aJxbhnAh18RA&refer=asia#): "The shots were most effective when subjects received two shots of 90 micrograms of the vaccine, the highest dose used in the study. Double doses of 7.5, 15 and 45 micrograms were less effective, Fauci said.
[snip]
Seasonal flu shots normally contain 15 micrograms of vaccine, or six times the amount needed for a single dose of the bird flu vaccine. [sic -- 90+90=180 micrograms are needed of this new vaccine, 12 times a normal dose] Worldwide production capacity for those doses stands at about 450 million, Fauci said.
[snip]
The U.S. has already ordered 2 million doses of the vaccine, each containing two shots of 15 micrograms each."

So, we have ordered what seems to me to be enough vaccine for 333,333 people. So glad NIH is so on top of things.

Tim: from the first NY times story: "Because the A(H5N1) strain of avian flu is lethal for chickens and so could not be grown in eggs, Dr. Webster had to use a technique known as reverse genetics to remove the gene that made the virus deadly. This altered virus was used by Sanofi-Pasteur, a French vaccine company, to produce the vaccine in chicken eggs."
Gaudeamus | Homepage | 08.07.05 - 10:25 am | #
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[Reeves]

Re: HHS awards H5N1 contracts

Switzerland to stockpile GSK's bird flu vaccine

<!-- begin content -->October 18, 2006 ? In: Pharma news | Deals

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->GlaxoSmithKline's experimental bird flu vaccine hasn't been submitted for European approval yet, but Switzerland has already signed a deal to buy enough for its entire population. Switzerland will receive 8 million doses of the vaccine for stockpiling and another 7.5 million doses after any potential pandemic strain is identified. GSK and others in this field believe that creating vaccines based on the H5N1 virus will still afford protection to people after the virus mutates. In its current strain, the virus is not easily transmitted to people. GSK plans to submit the vaccine for approval later this year.