Daily Herald

Baxter International Inc., the largest maker of blood-disease treatments, said it is in talks with the Indian government to start supplying a swine flu vaccine as early as August.

The company can make the vaccine available in India once it gets a “go ahead from the government,” Deerfield-based Baxter said in a statement issued in New Delhi today.

Baxter is in “full-scale” production of the vaccine using its Vero cell-culture technology, the company said on June 12.

(ChinaPost.com.tw) – Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius says production of a vaccine for swine flu is being set up in case a vaccine program is recommended.

Sebelius says the government is making every effort to be prepared as the swine flu runs its course. She says the good news is that this swine flu seems not to be such a lethal virus.

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A couple of months ago, Stanford Hospital had a preview of what a real pandemic might look like: hundreds of people, fearing they might be sick with the H1N1 virus, showed up at the emergency department looking for help. Hospital officials scrambled fast, converting some space over night into an infection-controlled triage area.

On Friday morning, Stanford Hospital tested something that might one day be the standard for how all hospitals respond when thousands might need care at the height of pandemic-a car drive-through triage and care system to keep people from infecting each other and to care for them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“It’s a fantastic idea,” said emergency medicine physician Milana Boukhman, as she waited for another volunteer “sick” person to arrive at her treatment station, one of several set up in a parking garage near the Hospital. “One of the biggest issues in a pandemic is cross-contamination. Cars are self-contained contamination units. And this works if you have limited resources, too.”

The system tested Friday, with 40 patients and 50 health care providers, was simple. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, evaluators and observers hovered around a series of tables where patients were first registered, then evaluated, then treated and then discharged The observers-health care and emergency preparedness professionals-gathered data that will be sent on to the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control for evaluation and review.

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The WHO’s decision Thursday to declare H1N1 (swine) flu a pandemic will “speed the production of a vaccine against the new virus,” however scientists continue to caution that “it will be fall at the earliest before the first doses are available,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Scientists have encountered some problems in paving the way for such a vaccine. The H1N1 virus grows more slowly in eggs than the seasonal flu virus does, so it has taken longer than expected to prepare the seed stocks of virus that manufacturers will use to start production. … Preliminary tests also suggest that higher than normal amounts of killed virus will be required to produce the necessary immune response, which could also slow the manufacturing process,” the newspaper writes.

According to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, it will likely be September before the first doses of an H1N1 vaccine become available “and even then, ‘there will be limited supply of vaccine,’ she said. ‘The challenge to the world will be to look at who should get the vaccine and, within a country, which groups get the vaccine’” (Maugh, Los Angeles Times, 6/12).

Novartis AG, announced Friday it “has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations,” the AP/Wall Street Journal reports (AP/Wall Street Journal, 6/12). Rather than using the traditional method for vaccine production that requires adapting a virus strain to grow in eggs, Novartis instead used “cell-based manufacturing technology,” shaving “weeks off the time required to begin vaccine production,” the company said. The company “will start clinical trials in July and expects to be able to ramp up manufacture rapidly,” according to Reuters (Reid, Reuters, 6/12).

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Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) announced that it has completed testing and evaluation of the A/H1N1 influenza virus and is now in full-scale production of a commercial A/H1N1 vaccine using its Vero cell culture technology. Baxter received an A/H1N1 strain from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center] in early May and is diligently working to deliver a pandemic vaccine for use as early as July.

WHO raised the pandemic alert level to phase 6, indicating a global influenza pandemic involving the 2009 A/H1N1 strain. Baxter is in contact with WHO and other global public health authorities regarding the pandemic. A number of national public health authorities have existing pandemic agreements with Baxter that allow them to place orders for a vaccine now that a pandemic has been declared by WHO. These public health authorities will be evaluating their needs to determine their orders for vaccine supply. Despite the company’s existing obligations to supply vaccine under a pandemic phase 6 alert, Baxter is also committed to working with WHO to allocate a portion of the company’s commercial production to address global public health issues deemed most urgent.

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The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday, raising its pandemic warning from phase 5 to 6, making swine flu the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. Now that H1N1 “Swine Flu” has been elevated to pandemic status, with reports of outbreaks in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, San Francisco, USA-based Cannabis Science Inc. (OTCBB: CBIS) CEO Steven Kubby urges public health officials around the world to “take medical cannabis seriously.

According to the company, which specializes in cannabis research and development for medical purposes, the world may have at its disposal a means of combating the affects of this deadly disease. Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Director and Chief Science Officer for CSI reports, “Research into use of whole cannabis extracts and multi-cannabinoid compounds has provided the scientific rationale for medical marijuana’s efficacy in treating some of the most troubling diseases mankind now faces, including infectious diseases such as the flu and HIV, autoimmune diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and diabetes, neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, stroke and brain injury, as well as numerous forms of cancer.”

Dr. Melamede went on to say, “The high lethality of some strains of flu can be attributed to the excessive inflammatory response driven by Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF). Endocannabinoids are nature’s way of controlling TNF activity. Phytocannabinoids can mimic the natural endocannabinoids to prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses.”

Upon hearing that WHO had elevated the swine flu to pandemic status, CSI’s CEO Steve Kubby said, “Governments all over the world ought to seriously consider the advantages of medical cannabis.”

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Novartis announced in a press statement today that it has made the first batch of vaccine against the A (H1N1) influenza virus causing the swine flu pandemic. The Swiss-based pharmaceutical company said that it had made 10 liters of vaccine that it will use in pre-clinical studies and maybe early clinical trials.

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(ChinaPost.com.tw) – The government decided yesterday to revamp the anti-flu strategies to alleviate possible hazards that could be caused by swine flu instead of the current measure of “blocking” the invasion into the country.

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) made the decision after holding a meeting that was attended by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, officials from relevant authorities and experts in epidemic disease control.

Several major resolutions were adopted. Minister Yeh Ching-chuan of Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) reiterated that the goal of keeping a global swine flu pandemic from spreading to Taiwan has remain unchanged.

But there will be adjustments in utilizing the available personnel and medical resources, he said.

Yeh announced that the government has decided to double the amount of A(H1N1) vaccine it plans to buy from overseas to 5 million doses from 2.5 million doses.

He admitted that “it is not sure Taiwan will be able to secure all the vaccine it has ordered,” since all countries around the world want the vaccine, too.

However, he promised that people with high risk of contracting the virus, such as those working in the health care sector, will be the first to be vaccinated.

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(ChinaPost.com.tw) – While millions could catch the flu, governments and health experts around the world have sought to play down fears that influenza A(H1N1) could become a major killer.

Swine flu has so far infected almost 30,000 people in 74 countries and claimed 145 lives since it was first detected in Mexico in April, according to WHO figures.

Swiss drugs firm Novartis says it has completed a first batch of vaccine for pre-clinical trials and aims to make a version available in about four months.

“Novartis has successfully completed the production of the first batch of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, weeks ahead of expectations,” the company said in a statement.

The batch “will be used for pre-clinical evaluation and testing and is also being considered for use in clinical trials,” it said.

Novartis hopes to start the trials in July and to gain a licence soon after. It said more than 30 governments had already asked for A(H1N1) virus “vaccine ingredients”.

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With a four-fold increase in swine flu cases within the last week, Filligent, the Australian-led biotech company, is mobilizing stocks of its anti-infective BioMask to help combat the spread of Influenza A (H1N1) across Australia. The BioMask is the first medical face mask to kill the Influenza A virus within seconds of contact while retaining the breathability required by front-line workers and children, who are often the first to fall in a contagious episode. CEO Melissa Mowbray-d’Arbela says. “We’re allocating our resources to respond to Australia’s needs. The BioMask was designed specifically for situations like this.”

The TGA-registered BioMask is a Class I medical face mask that traps and kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on contact. It is a powerful weapon to contain the spread of Swine Flu, a strain of Influenza A. By complying with the European Community’s Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC, Filligent has met the stringent EU requirements for design, efficacy and safety of its innovative, germ-killing BioMask.

According to pandemic experts, an effective face mask, like the germ-killing BioMask, could reduce the number of cases from one million to just six, in the first months of a pandemic. Containment is critical.

The Influenza A virus can stay alive on hands and surfaces for hours if not days. Human-to-human transfer also occurs by touching contaminated surfaces. The self-sanitizing BioMask reduces the risk of cross-contamination by continuously killing germs. As it can remain germ-free after being touched, the BioMask is especially suitable for use by children, who tend to be both careless and fidgety when wearing a face mask.

Filligent designed the BioMask to withstand the rigours of pandemic logistics. Apart from being as affordable as standard masks, it is resistant to fungal contamination and extreme conditions, including humidity, heat or cold. It is flat-packed and can be surge manufactured. “We are working with Australian retailers and distributors to get the BioMask and our other anti- infective products out to people as soon as possible.”

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