Vaccine companies to compete for UK pandemic contract
pharmafile | October 20, 2005 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Vaccine companies are to compete with each other to produce a vaccine against a potential pandemic flu – although no-one knows yet what form it will take.
The new plans have been put in place following the spread of the H5N1 or avian flu strain into Europe from Asia, where it has killed around 60 people in the last two years.
The greatest threat is the possibility that avian flu will combine with ordinary flu to create a new, far more deadly strain, which could kill between two and 50 million people worldwide, with many more millions hospitalised.
Researchers are unable to create a vaccine until to the new strain emerges, meaning the only preparation governments can undertake is to buy up manufacturing capacity.
The government says if a pandemic does emerge, at least 50,000 people will die in the UK, with a minimum of 80,000 hospitalised.
The UK's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, says the country needs 120 million doses of the vaccine to be manufactured as quickly as possible after the pandemic hits.
"We can't prevent a flu pandemic, but we can reduce its impact," he said.
"One of the most effective countermeasures we can take against a flu pandemic is to make sure we develop and manufacture a vaccine as quickly as possible.
"A vaccine to protect against pandemic flu cannot be made until the new virus is known. However, there are steps we can take to reduce the time before manufacturing starts."
New measures to ensure the NHS is ready to respond to a flu pandemic are also being put in place, with primary care clinicians being asked to put together plans for if and when the pandemic hits.
Sir Liam concluded: "Planning to combat pandemic flu is our number one priority. We regard pandemic flu as public health enemy number one and we are on the march against it. With good planning and preparation we can reduce the impact of pandemic flu on the health of our population."
Even with this level of preparation, a new vaccine will take at least 18 months to develop and manufacture – in which time a pandemic could kill millions.
Like other countries, the UK is now stockpiling supplies of Roche's antiviral Tamiflu, which can help prevent infection or alleviate flu symptoms if used early enough.
Roche has pledged to step up production of the drug to meet the upsurge in demand globally.
The UK has ordered 14.6 million courses of the drug, which it expects to be complete by September 2006. The government is storing its existing stockpile in a secret location as a precautionary measure.
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