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Asian Nations Pressure UN Agency to Increase Flu Vaccine Supply
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aMkOhE0u4_R0&refer=healthcare
By Karima Anjani
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- A group of mostly Asian countries led by Indonesia stepped up pressure on the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines that could protect people against a pandemic sparked by bird flu.
Developing countries want the United Nations health agency to encourage drugmakers to produce flu vaccines in the region to ensure an affordable supply of the shots, Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told a meeting of health officials from 16 nations and WHO representatives in Jakarta today.
Four of every five human avian-flu cases have occurred in Asia, the world's most populous continent and the source of the past two flu pandemics. Sanofi-Aventis SA and Novartis AG are among companies developing vaccines based on virus material collected from patients in Asia, where some countries are concerned that limited global vaccine capacity means that, in the event of a pandemic, their citizens won't receive the shots.
``Nations are concerned about the prospect of an epidemic or pandemic and this is perhaps more so in developing countries where we feel unprepared, unprotected and exposed under the current system,'' Supari told the meeting. ``Developing nations must receive urgent assistance to develop capacity for domestic vaccine production.''
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has struck at least 281 people in a dozen countries since late 2003, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Sixty percent of cases were fatal. Scientists have said the virus might kill millions if it were to spread easily among people.
Indonesia, which has recorded more than a third of the human H5N1 fatalities, prevented drugmakers from having free access to samples last year after Australia's CSL Ltd. developed an experimental vaccine based on an Indonesian strain.
Legal Agreement
Supari insists the procedure under which virus samples are shared be set in a legally binding material transfer agreement without which Indonesia won't publicly share the information.
Thailand's Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkha said last week that he supports Indonesia's stance.
Companies need timely information about mutations in H5N1 flu strains to design defenses against it because a vaccine aimed at protecting people in a global outbreak needs to closely match the pandemic virus.
The WHO says it is critical that countries share information on H5N1 to map its spread and to determine whether the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans.
The agency is coordinating efforts to understand and limit outbreaks of H5N1 virus strain before it touches off a pandemic. Virus samples are sent by the governments of affected countries to the agency at no cost -- an arrangement that's been in place for at least 50 years.
Slower Production
The WHO is trying to broker an accord that will encourage developing countries to continue sharing virus information as well as improve their access to vaccines. The agency wants to avoid entering legal agreements between governments that would slow vaccine production during a pandemic, David Heymann, the WHO's assistant director for communicable diseases, said last week.
``What we're asking is that countries give the WHO their confidence in treating these viruses as necessary so that risk assessment can be done and vaccine can be developed,'' Heymann told reporters in Jakarta today.
A possible solution is to establish an international stockpile of pandemic vaccine, he said last week.
There is currently enough annual global capacity to produce about 500 million doses of vaccine. Immunologists aren't sure whether two shots may be needed to protect against the pandemic virus. That means potential vaccine supply would fall several billion doses short of the amount needed to provide protection to the global population, the WHO said in September.
The agency last week called on developed countries to join Canada, Japan and the U.S. in supporting a $10 billion, 10-year vaccine research and development project.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aMkOhE0u4_R0&refer=healthcare
By Karima Anjani
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- A group of mostly Asian countries led by Indonesia stepped up pressure on the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines that could protect people against a pandemic sparked by bird flu.
Developing countries want the United Nations health agency to encourage drugmakers to produce flu vaccines in the region to ensure an affordable supply of the shots, Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told a meeting of health officials from 16 nations and WHO representatives in Jakarta today.
Four of every five human avian-flu cases have occurred in Asia, the world's most populous continent and the source of the past two flu pandemics. Sanofi-Aventis SA and Novartis AG are among companies developing vaccines based on virus material collected from patients in Asia, where some countries are concerned that limited global vaccine capacity means that, in the event of a pandemic, their citizens won't receive the shots.
``Nations are concerned about the prospect of an epidemic or pandemic and this is perhaps more so in developing countries where we feel unprepared, unprotected and exposed under the current system,'' Supari told the meeting. ``Developing nations must receive urgent assistance to develop capacity for domestic vaccine production.''
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has struck at least 281 people in a dozen countries since late 2003, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Sixty percent of cases were fatal. Scientists have said the virus might kill millions if it were to spread easily among people.
Indonesia, which has recorded more than a third of the human H5N1 fatalities, prevented drugmakers from having free access to samples last year after Australia's CSL Ltd. developed an experimental vaccine based on an Indonesian strain.
Legal Agreement
Supari insists the procedure under which virus samples are shared be set in a legally binding material transfer agreement without which Indonesia won't publicly share the information.
Thailand's Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkha said last week that he supports Indonesia's stance.
Companies need timely information about mutations in H5N1 flu strains to design defenses against it because a vaccine aimed at protecting people in a global outbreak needs to closely match the pandemic virus.
The WHO says it is critical that countries share information on H5N1 to map its spread and to determine whether the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans.
The agency is coordinating efforts to understand and limit outbreaks of H5N1 virus strain before it touches off a pandemic. Virus samples are sent by the governments of affected countries to the agency at no cost -- an arrangement that's been in place for at least 50 years.
Slower Production
The WHO is trying to broker an accord that will encourage developing countries to continue sharing virus information as well as improve their access to vaccines. The agency wants to avoid entering legal agreements between governments that would slow vaccine production during a pandemic, David Heymann, the WHO's assistant director for communicable diseases, said last week.
``What we're asking is that countries give the WHO their confidence in treating these viruses as necessary so that risk assessment can be done and vaccine can be developed,'' Heymann told reporters in Jakarta today.
A possible solution is to establish an international stockpile of pandemic vaccine, he said last week.
There is currently enough annual global capacity to produce about 500 million doses of vaccine. Immunologists aren't sure whether two shots may be needed to protect against the pandemic virus. That means potential vaccine supply would fall several billion doses short of the amount needed to provide protection to the global population, the WHO said in September.
The agency last week called on developed countries to join Canada, Japan and the U.S. in supporting a $10 billion, 10-year vaccine research and development project.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net .
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