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Influenza World brings you the latest news and updates in the flu field from around the world.

 
Bird flu vaccine production still lags: study
24 February 2009

GENEVA (Reuters) - Drug companies have increased their capacity to make bird flu vaccines by 300 percent in the past two years but will still need four years to meet global demand in the event of a pandemic, according to a study reported on Tuesday.

It also noted that doses of vaccine tailored to the actual strain of pandemic influenza that emerges will not be available until four months after that strain is identified.

"We found that considerable progress has been made to enhance the production capacity of pandemic influenza vaccine," Adam Sabow, partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman which conducted the study, said in a statement.

"While capacity still falls short of global need during a pandemic, the surplus capacity during the inter-pandemic period creates opportunities for preparedness efforts," he said.

Oliver Wyman carried out the study with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Manufacturers hunting for the best vaccines to stop the deadly disease face a race against the clock if the H5N1 strain of influenza now circulating in birds mutates and starts spreading easily among humans, as many researchers fear.

In the most likely case, manufacturers could produce 2.5 billion doses of pandemic vaccine in the 12 months following receipt of the production strain, requiring four years to satisfy global demand, the study said.

In the current best-case scenario, 7.7 billion doses could be produced in the first 12 months, requiring 1.5 years to satisfy global demand, it said. Production was expected to increase significantly over the next five years.

Effective coverage through mass immunization is based on two doses per person for a global population of 6.7 billion.

GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drugmaker, and Sanofi-Aventis, whose vaccines arm is Sanofi Pasteur, and Swiss drugmaker Novartis are among at least 16 companies working on pandemic vaccines.

"The findings suggest that the early use of stockpiled H5N1-based vaccines, followed by pandemic vaccines as soon as these become available, offers a realistic strategy to address this significant threat," IFPMA Director-General Alicia Greenidge said in a statement.

Geneva-based IFPMA links 26 leading international companies and 44 national and regional industry associations. Oliver Wyman also talked to 11 other current or potential vaccine makers in developing countries who are not members of IFPMA.

The bird flu virus has killed 254 people out of 408 infected worldwide since 2003, according to the WHO, a United Nations agency which has warned that a pandemic could kill millions.

A challenge in producing a vaccine for millions of people around the world is how to make the maximum number of shots from the minimum amount of antigen, or active ingredient.

  • "I would describe flu as something that makes you feel very, very ill. You get a headache, aching bones, and are generally fed up"
  • "When I get flu symptoms I feel like a train has run over me"
  • "I felt very sick and, during the first week, I had high temperature. Flu was very different to a cold. I went back to work after two and a half weeks. Then I suffered a setback for another week"
  • "I run a guesthouse; flu would be a real pest for me. I couldn’t cook, I shouldn’t cook, and I wouldn’t cook, so I would need to get a lot of extra help in. It would cost me a lot more money. So flu’s a real problem, a right downturn"
  • "I work on my own and when I can’t work, I have to try not to infect my little children, so they avoid getting the flu as well"
  • "I feel a little numb, like I’m in another dimension. Because in general I have sore throat, headache, I feel all clogged-up. Usually a sensation like I’m floating in the air"
  • "Shivers, sweats, makes you ache. Last time I had flu I was off for two weeks"
  • "I think that I would probably be concerned that I would pass flu onto my children, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I would"
  • "Flu makes you feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. You don’t feel like you can get yourself out of bed as all your energy is drawn from you"
  • "I was incapable of working. It just wasn’t possible at all… and my flu dragged on for more than a week"
  • "I have no strength. It annoys me because I can do nothing, it seems like I’m wasting my time"
  • "Flu’s like being hit by a truck because you feel completely gone. There is no energy left in your body. You are suffering from high temperature. You’re sweating a lot and you feel really unwell"
  • "First of all infinite tiredness, then I feel like sleeping and don’t want to eat"
  • "I felt really miserable because my muscles and my bones were aching. Well, I can hardly describe it, I just felt really awful, absolutely miserable"
  • "It’s like there’s something huge treading on your head, like a deafening noise that destroys the eardrums"
  • "The fever was constantly rising – I immediately measured my temperature as soon as I got home. It was 41°C and it kept rising and I was wondering what’s going on. I was really scared! Everything was hurting and it all happened so fast. Flu came out of the blue"
  • "I always feel like my limbs have iron weights tied to them and I’m going to fall over any minute, a really stuffy runny nose and feel antisocial"
  • "I was totally dependent on others! I was incapable of doing anything at all"
  • "The real flu knocks you for six – you just don’t want to move or do anything. It’s not very nice"
  • "Not being able to go to work. Not being able to do the things I have to do at home and the commitments that I have day by day"