GENEVA, June 13 (AFP) - A Swiss pharmaceutical giant has said it has a swine flu vaccine ready for trial as governments stepped up precautions to counter the newly-declared influenza pandemic.
While millions could catch the flu, governments and health experts around the world have sought to play down fears that the A(H1N1) virus 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 World Health Organisation (WHO) figures.
The Swiss company Novartis stole a march on competitors by announcing it has completed a first batch of its vaccine for pre-clinical trials. A spokesman told AFP it hoped to have a vaccine in production by September or October.
“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.
Novartis said it hopes to start trials on patients in July and to gain a licence soon after. It said more than 30 governments had already asked for A(H1N1) virus “vaccine ingredients.”The US government gave Novartis 289 million dollars (205 million euros) to help develop a vaccine. It also placed an order with Sanofi-Pasteur of France which said it hopes to have doses ready for clinical trials in coming weeks.
British-controlled GlaxoSmithKline said Friday that it could produce a vaccine in four to six months and that it was ready to convert a donation of 50 million doses of vaccine against H5N1 bird flu for the WHO to swine flu doses.
The UN health agency raised its global alert to a maximum six on Thursday saying it had reached pandemic status because of its geographical spread.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan said the declaration of a “moderate”pandemic should not spark panic and did not mean the A(H1N1) death toll would rise sharply.
She said raising the alert “means that the world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century. |
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