GPs And Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Call On Government To Prepare For Swine Flu Vaccine Rollout
June 21, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
GP groups and Aboriginal community controlled health services from around the country have called on the Government to quickly engage with general practices and Aboriginal community controlled health services in preparation for the rollout of a Swine Flu vaccine.
In a letter to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, United General Practice Australia (UGPA) and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) called on Government to start planning for the roll out now.
A Swine Flu vaccine is currently undergoing clinical trials and is expected to be available within months.
VaxInnate Reports Positive Results From Preclinical Testing Of Swine Flu Vaccine Developed Using Novel Technology
June 18, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
VaxInnate Corporation today reported positive preclinical results for a recombinant swine flu vaccine it developed in less than three weeks, making it one of the first companies in the world to begin testing a vaccine that could help halt the spread of the swine flu pandemic. Preclinical studies in mice suggest that VaxInnate’s recombinant swine flu vaccine could provide protection against the pandemic H1N1 influenza A swine flu strain, VaxInnate CEO Alan Shaw , PhD told attendees at the 7th Annual Biodefense Vaccines and Therapeutics meeting taking place here. Further preclinical testing of the vaccine is already underway.
“Using our novel vaccine technology, VaxInnate was able to rapidly develop and begin testing a vaccine that could be a useful weapon against the pandemic flu,” Dr. Shaw said. “We’re encouraged by our results to date and are moving forward with further preclinical testing.
“In doing so, VaxInnate is hoping to partner with the U.S. government on further development of our swine flu vaccine,” he added. “The federally-funded vaccine technologies in development cannot produce vaccines as rapidly and efficiently as VaxInnate can, and we want the opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities.”
Dr. Shaw said VaxInnate is also seeking international partners for the development of this and other pandemic vaccines to meet global needs. VaxInnate’s announcement comes less than a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the first flu pandemic in 41 years.
Baxter in talks to sell swine flu vaccine to India
June 15, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
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.
U.S. going forward with swine flu vaccine plans
June 15, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
(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.
Novartis Reports Advance in Swine Flu Vaccine Production
June 13, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
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.
Swine flu vaccine ready for clinical trials
June 13, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
(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”.
Efforts To Quickly Develop Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In GEN
June 3, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
Scientists around the world are accelerating their efforts to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza virus (Swine flu) as rapidly as possible, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The need for such a vaccine received a strong impetus from the World Health Organization, which has issued a Phase 5 pandemic alert, a strong signal that the WHO believes a pandemic is imminent, according to the June 1 issue of GEN (
HHS Takes $1 Billion “Step” Toward Making Swine Flu Vaccine
May 23, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today announced the decision to spend $1 billion of existing funds on what a press release gingerly called “steps necessary to prepare for potential commercial-scale production of a candidate vaccine for the novel Influenza A (H1N1).”
The press release says HHS will spend the money on vaccine ingredients needed for commercial-scale production and for the early clinical tests needed to determine how much of this and how much of that to put into the final product. Specifically, influenza vaccines contain the hemagglutinin protein that studs the surface of the virus, the so-called antigen that stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies. In countries outside of the United States, vaccine makers add a booster, or adjuvant, to increase potency, which increases the amount of final product they can make from a given amount of antigen—or reduces the number of doses ultimately needed to trigger a robust antibody response. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently does not license the use of any influenza vaccines that contain adjuvants, it has approved adjuvant-containing vaccines against many other diseases. (FDA does not license adjuvants, per se, but considers them as an integral ingredient of final products that use them.)
Swine Flu Vaccine May Take Longer
May 22, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
Add 2 months to the timetable for producing a vaccine against the virus causing the swine flu outbreak, says an advisory group to the World Health Organization (WHO).
It may be mid-July before manufacturers have the appropriate “seed stock” to start making the vaccine against the new A (H1N1), according to a report posted online today from a WHO working group on vaccines that met via teleconference on 14 May. The report says a crude form of the seed stock likely will be ready by the end of the month, but 1 to 2 weeks of testing in animals will be required. Manufacturers typically need 1 to 2 months more to find the fastest growing strains that will produce the most surface proteins from the virus, which are the main ingredients in a vaccine. The group warned that moving too quickly “could result in starting vaccine production with strains of lower growth potential,” as happened with a strain of H5N1, the bird flu virus. “Using a poorly growing A (H1N1) virus could reduce global supplies of A (H1N1) vaccine,” the group warned.
On 1 May, Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO’s initiative for vaccine research, predicted that the seed stock would be ready “by mid- or end of May.” Kieny, who spoke at a press conference, said, “The reality is that from the time the potentially pandemic virus is identified, it takes between 4 to 6 months to have the first doses of vaccine coming out of the factory and be available for immunizing people.”
WHO: Swine Flu Vaccine Proving Tougher To Produce
May 22, 2009 by fluoutbreak · Leave a Comment
The World Health Organization says drug makers won’t be able to start manufacturing a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest, months later than previous predictions. Vaccine experts are reporting that swine flu virus is not growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get the key ingredient they need for a vaccine.
Drug manufacturers won’t be able to start making a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest, months later than previous predictions, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The disclosure that making a swine flu vaccine is proving more difficult than experts first thought came as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan met with representatives from up to 30 pharmaceutical companies to discuss the subject.
Health officials from around the world are attending WHO’s annual meeting in Geneva this week to discuss the outbreak that has infected 9,830 people in over 40 countries, killing 79 of them.
According to vaccine experts convened by WHO last week, swine flu virus is not growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get the key ingredient they need for a vaccine, the “seed stock” from the virus.
The flu experts said vaccine manufacturers will not be ready to produce a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest, the agency reported Tuesday on its Web site. Previously, WHO officials had estimated that production could start in late May.
Experts also found no evidence that regular flu vaccines offer any protection against swine flu.
Vaccine experts estimated under the best conditions, they could produce nearly 5 billion doses of swine flu vaccine over a year after beginning full-scale production. In that situation, the U.N. might have access to up to 400 million doses for poor countries. The rest of the vaccines would presumably go to wealthy contras who have already signed deals to get the pandemic vaccine as soon as it is available.
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