Vaccines could be produced in less than 10 weeks from first isolation of the RNA sequence by using insect cell derived influenza VLPs, according to research which has implications for H1N1 and H5N1.
Sinovac’s recently opened vaccine filling and packaging facility in Beijing, China has received SFDA GMP certification, which the firm says will increase production capacity to around 40m doses a year.
Pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing technology will be made available to developing countries through a collaboration between the WHO and Schering-Plough.
Within Obama’s $819bn economic stimulus package are numerous provisions relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, including funding to construct or renovate private manufacturing facilities.
The current state of pandemic influenza vaccine supplies and
capacity is shockingly insufficient, a new report has found - less
than one-fifth of needed doses would actually be available within
six months of an outbreak.
The US Government is not sneezing at the potential for an influenza
pandemic and has awarded two new vaccine manufacturing contracts to
keep the sniffles at bay.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week reiterated its
concerns regarding the worldwide lack of manufacturing capacity in
the face of the potential global pandemic influenza vaccine demand.
Drug giants Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have been awarded
contracts with the US government to develop adjuvant technology for
pandemic influenza, to potentially increase the number of doses to
be distributed among US citizens.
Baxter has been contracted by the Austrian government to supply 16m
doses of pre-pandemic influenza vaccine - enough to vaccinate the
country's entire population.
