| Vaccine Makers get Federal Funding |
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The US government on Thursday awarded more than US$ 1 billion ($ 1.296 billion) to five drug manufacturers that are developing technology for speedier mass production of better influenza vaccines in case of a pandemic.
The drug manufacturers will work to develop cell based-vaccines to fight seasonal influenza or a pandemic strain. The new vaccines will be produced in labs in batches of cells called cell cultures, Mike Leavitt, Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Mr. Leavitt said, “Cell-based vaccine production is more reliable. It’s also more flexible and more scalable than traditional egg-based vaccines.”
Presently, flu vaccines are produced in specialized chicken eggs, but that technique does not allow for rapid mass vaccination. The latest method intended to replace older, egg-based systems, which require steady supplies of carefully grown eggs and months of cultivation.
Leavitt said, “The hard truth is that, at this moment, the capacity simply does not exist in the United States to produce vaccines with sufficient speed and quantity to reach everyone out there.”
The amount ($ 1.296 billion) comes from the $ 3.8 billion that Congress approved last year. The companies granted the contracts, which cover a five-year term, are:
•GlaxoSmithKline, $ 274.8 million;
•MedImmune Inc., $ 169.5 million;
•Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, $ 220.5 million;
•DynPort Vaccine Co., $ 41 million; and
•Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc., $ 298.6 million.
Glaxo said it would spend some of the amount to boost cell culture manufacturing at a Pennsylvania vaccine plant.
Maryland-based biotechnology company MedImmune-which produces a needle-free, nasal-spray vaccine, said it would expand its facilities. Company’s president and chief executive officer, David Mott said, “We plan to expand our domestic manufacturing capacity by establishing a cell-based facility in the United States that can produce at least 150 million doses within six months of notification of an influenza pandemic.”
Basel Switzerland -based multinational pharmaceutical Company, Novartis “will be investing additional resources in highly skilled researchers to set up one of the first flu cell culture manufacturing sites in the U.S,” Daniel Vasella, Chief Executive of the company said.
Both, “Annual flu” (also called “seasonal flu” or “Human flu”) and the H5N1 avian influenza spreading among birds-are on the target. However, H5N1 strain does not easily infect humans, yet it has killed more than 100 people worldwide.
Experts dread it could change into a form that could spread easily and quickly among people. And if it did, it would actuate a pandemic and work would have to start quickly on a vaccine to fight it.
The main objective of the move is to be able to distribute vaccine to every US citizen within six months of a pandemic striking.
HHS Secretary said vaccines are nation’s best line of defense if there is a pandemic. He said the contracts would help the government meet other objectives, including the variegation of a domestic supply of vaccines so that the United States would not have to rely on foreign production during a pandemic. He also said the technology could assist the country build its stock of seasonal flu vaccines as well.
The secretary also informed that researchers are also working on the evolution of a new generation of vaccines that would be broadly protective of a wide range of influenza viruses.
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