Sally Furniss
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Thailand Joins Indonesia in Withholding Bird Flu Data (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aSm9ZP9Guu9U&refer=healthcare
By Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Karima Anjani
March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand will restrict access to its bird flu viruses, joining Indonesia in depriving scientists of samples they need to track changes in the disease and to develop a vaccine.
Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkha said Thailand received no special benefits from sharing virus material collected from patients that drugmakers rely on to produce vaccine. Indonesia stopped sharing samples in November after an Australian company developed a vaccine based on a virus collected from an Indonesian patient.
``Drugmakers rarely help us,'' Mongkol told reporters in Bangkok today. ``They only gave us a small amount of vaccine, just like a donation.''
Officials in Thailand and Indonesia are concerned that limited global flu-vaccine capacity means that, in the event of a pandemic, their citizens will miss out on receiving the shots that they helped produce because drugmakers will sell them to wealthier countries that can afford to pay more for them.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has struck at least 281 people in a dozen countries since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Sixty percent of cases were fatal. Scientists have said the virus might kill millions if it were to spread easily among people.
`Fair and Equitable Access''
``We are pleased with Thailand's move in the global process to gain fair and equitable access to vaccines,'' Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief executive officer of Indonesia's committee on avian and pandemic flu, said in an interview from Jakarta today. ``We hope a joint agreement on vaccine distribution could be achieved.''
The Geneva-based United Nations health agency says it is critical that countries share information on H5N1 to trace its spread and to track whether the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans.
The strain has been found in wild birds and poultry in at least 56 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.
Representatives from the WHO and drug companies, and health officials from the Asia-Pacific region will meet in Jakarta next week to discuss sharing viruses and access to pandemic flu vaccines.
Thailand, where 25 human avian influenza cases were recorded between February 2004 and August 2006, will join Indonesia in campaigning for changes to the way in which the WHO distributes virus samples, Mongkol said. Deputy Minister for Public Health Morakot Kornkasem will lead Thailand's delegation to the meeting, Mongkol said.
Legal Framework
Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said last week that the WHO must wait at least until May to receive specimens from Indonesia's avian flu cases because she wants to ensure a legal framework is in place to protect the material from being freely used by vaccine makers.
London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Europe's biggest drugmaker, charges about $6 to $11 for its seasonal flu vaccine, and prices for its H5N1 vaccine will be close to that range, a company official said last week.
Supari has said vaccines need to be more affordable. Almost one in five of Indonesia's estimated 242 million people lives on a weekly income of $4, according to the country's central statistics bureau.
``We agree with Indonesia's move,'' Thailand's Mongkol said today. ``WHO should have a fair method to allocate the vaccine.''
Other countries in Asia which have the virus and which would need to import vaccines to protect against a pandemic ``will agree with us,'' Mongkol said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at Suttinee1@bloomberg.net Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aSm9ZP9Guu9U&refer=healthcare
By Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Karima Anjani
March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand will restrict access to its bird flu viruses, joining Indonesia in depriving scientists of samples they need to track changes in the disease and to develop a vaccine.
Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkha said Thailand received no special benefits from sharing virus material collected from patients that drugmakers rely on to produce vaccine. Indonesia stopped sharing samples in November after an Australian company developed a vaccine based on a virus collected from an Indonesian patient.
``Drugmakers rarely help us,'' Mongkol told reporters in Bangkok today. ``They only gave us a small amount of vaccine, just like a donation.''
Officials in Thailand and Indonesia are concerned that limited global flu-vaccine capacity means that, in the event of a pandemic, their citizens will miss out on receiving the shots that they helped produce because drugmakers will sell them to wealthier countries that can afford to pay more for them.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has struck at least 281 people in a dozen countries since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Sixty percent of cases were fatal. Scientists have said the virus might kill millions if it were to spread easily among people.
`Fair and Equitable Access''
``We are pleased with Thailand's move in the global process to gain fair and equitable access to vaccines,'' Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief executive officer of Indonesia's committee on avian and pandemic flu, said in an interview from Jakarta today. ``We hope a joint agreement on vaccine distribution could be achieved.''
The Geneva-based United Nations health agency says it is critical that countries share information on H5N1 to trace its spread and to track whether the virus is becoming more adept at infecting humans.
The strain has been found in wild birds and poultry in at least 56 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.
Representatives from the WHO and drug companies, and health officials from the Asia-Pacific region will meet in Jakarta next week to discuss sharing viruses and access to pandemic flu vaccines.
Thailand, where 25 human avian influenza cases were recorded between February 2004 and August 2006, will join Indonesia in campaigning for changes to the way in which the WHO distributes virus samples, Mongkol said. Deputy Minister for Public Health Morakot Kornkasem will lead Thailand's delegation to the meeting, Mongkol said.
Legal Framework
Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said last week that the WHO must wait at least until May to receive specimens from Indonesia's avian flu cases because she wants to ensure a legal framework is in place to protect the material from being freely used by vaccine makers.
London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Europe's biggest drugmaker, charges about $6 to $11 for its seasonal flu vaccine, and prices for its H5N1 vaccine will be close to that range, a company official said last week.
Supari has said vaccines need to be more affordable. Almost one in five of Indonesia's estimated 242 million people lives on a weekly income of $4, according to the country's central statistics bureau.
``We agree with Indonesia's move,'' Thailand's Mongkol said today. ``WHO should have a fair method to allocate the vaccine.''
Other countries in Asia which have the virus and which would need to import vaccines to protect against a pandemic ``will agree with us,'' Mongkol said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at Suttinee1@bloomberg.net Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net
