<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - H1N1 vaccine now produced liao</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ZURICH: Novartis AG expects a vaccine for the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, declared responsible for the 21st century's first flu pandemic, to be available by the autumn after producing the first batch ahead of schedule.
The Swiss drugmaker said yesterday that it would start clinical trials on the vaccine next month, a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a pandemic and called on governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the virus.
Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Solvay all obtained the H1N1 seed virus in recent weeks, aiming to have a vaccine ready ahead of the flu season in the northern hemisphere.
Novartis said in a statement that first results with the H1N1 wild type strain showed it was quicker to make the vaccine through cell-based rather than egg-based production.
'Novartis has successfully completed the production of the first batch of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine, weeks ahead of expectations,' it said.
A spokesman for the firm said he was unsure if any other company had completed the first cycle of the production process, and said Novartis should have the vaccine ready in September or October.
It hoped to be able to produce millions of doses per week.
Mr Wayne Pisano, head of vaccines at Sanofi-Aventis, the world's largest flu vaccine supplier, said on Thursday that his company would 'produce the largest number of doses of vaccine in the shortest time frame', though it would be another four months before the first supply of bulk concentrate was ready.
The H1N1 strain has spread widely, with more than 28,700 infections confirmed in 74 countries to date, including 144 deaths, according to the WHO's latest tally.
Although the strain seems mild at present, health officials are worried it might return in a more virulent form in the northern hemisphere winter.
While commercial production of vaccines usually depends on how easily a virus strain grows in chicken eggs, Novartis said its cell-based technology means it can produce a vaccine without having to adapt the virus strain to grow in eggs.
'This advance has cut weeks off the time required to begin vaccine production,' Novartis said, adding that its cell-based facility in Marburg, Germany should be able to produce millions of doses each week. A second plant is being built in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
H1N1 vaccines must be tested first on ferrets and then on humans in clinical trials before regulatory approval is granted.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan said on Thursday that different regulatory authorities needed to work together to speed registration of a safe H1N1 flu vaccine.
Novartis said more than 30 governments have made requests to supply them with vaccine ingredients, which are a combination of pre-existing pandemic vaccine supply agreements and new requests for vaccines across all production platforms including egg-based manufacturing.
In the southern hemisphere, Australian drugmaker CSL says it expects to have the first batches of its shot ready by mid-August ahead of its rivals.
CSL, the smallest of the world's top six flu vaccine makers, is now preparing batches of the vaccine to use in trials on healthy volunteers.
The tests will probably start around July 17, said Ms Mary Sontrop, general manager of CSL's biotherapies unit. Australia is the world's fifth-worst affected country - after the United States, Mexico, Canada and Chile - with more than 1,300 people diagnosed with the virus.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ZURICH: Novartis AG expects a vaccine for the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, declared responsible for the 21st century's first flu pandemic, to be available by the autumn after producing the first batch ahead of schedule.
The Swiss drugmaker said yesterday that it would start clinical trials on the vaccine next month, a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a pandemic and called on governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the virus.
Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Solvay all obtained the H1N1 seed virus in recent weeks, aiming to have a vaccine ready ahead of the flu season in the northern hemisphere.
Novartis said in a statement that first results with the H1N1 wild type strain showed it was quicker to make the vaccine through cell-based rather than egg-based production.
'Novartis has successfully completed the production of the first batch of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine, weeks ahead of expectations,' it said.
A spokesman for the firm said he was unsure if any other company had completed the first cycle of the production process, and said Novartis should have the vaccine ready in September or October.
It hoped to be able to produce millions of doses per week.
Mr Wayne Pisano, head of vaccines at Sanofi-Aventis, the world's largest flu vaccine supplier, said on Thursday that his company would 'produce the largest number of doses of vaccine in the shortest time frame', though it would be another four months before the first supply of bulk concentrate was ready.
The H1N1 strain has spread widely, with more than 28,700 infections confirmed in 74 countries to date, including 144 deaths, according to the WHO's latest tally.
Although the strain seems mild at present, health officials are worried it might return in a more virulent form in the northern hemisphere winter.
While commercial production of vaccines usually depends on how easily a virus strain grows in chicken eggs, Novartis said its cell-based technology means it can produce a vaccine without having to adapt the virus strain to grow in eggs.
'This advance has cut weeks off the time required to begin vaccine production,' Novartis said, adding that its cell-based facility in Marburg, Germany should be able to produce millions of doses each week. A second plant is being built in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
H1N1 vaccines must be tested first on ferrets and then on humans in clinical trials before regulatory approval is granted.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan said on Thursday that different regulatory authorities needed to work together to speed registration of a safe H1N1 flu vaccine.
Novartis said more than 30 governments have made requests to supply them with vaccine ingredients, which are a combination of pre-existing pandemic vaccine supply agreements and new requests for vaccines across all production platforms including egg-based manufacturing.
In the southern hemisphere, Australian drugmaker CSL says it expects to have the first batches of its shot ready by mid-August ahead of its rivals.
CSL, the smallest of the world's top six flu vaccine makers, is now preparing batches of the vaccine to use in trials on healthy volunteers.
The tests will probably start around July 17, said Ms Mary Sontrop, general manager of CSL's biotherapies unit. Australia is the world's fifth-worst affected country - after the United States, Mexico, Canada and Chile - with more than 1,300 people diagnosed with the virus.
[email protected]
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