Two companies to supply UK with pandemic flu vaccines
pharmafile | August 16, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Baxter and GSK have been awarded contracts by the UK government to supply vaccines in the event of a flu pandemic striking the country.
The companies beat off competition from other manufacturers to win the contracts which are worth £155.4 million each over four years.
Like many other countries, the UK was spurred into action by the global scare surrounding the H5N1 bird flu and its potential to mutate and cause a human flu pandemic.
While popular fears about the threat of a flu pandemic have subsided since their peak in 2005 and early 2006, the deal has just been agreed after many months of government planning and negotiations with the manufacturers.
Providing vaccination for a flu pandemic presents several very difficult technical challenges, most notably the inability to predict how the virus will mutate, and the need to produce many millions of doses at short notice.
The deal with GSK and Baxter means the UK is reserving production capacity for the manufacture of the new vaccine and making an investment in R&D by the manufacturers, ensuring the country has dedicated supplies in the event of an emergency.
The government says the tender bids from Baxter and GSK were judged to be the best in relation to all the technical and scientific criteria, as well as providing the best value for money.
Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "These contracts mean the UK is on the front-foot if a flu pandemic occurs and are the latest steps towards ensuring we are as fully prepared as possible.
"We take the potential threat posed by pandemic flu very seriously and as the WHO has recognised, the UK is among the best prepared countries in the world. "With GSK and Baxter already committed to produce a tailored vaccine for the NHS as soon as the pandemic is identified, we are confident that we are putting in place another important component of our preparation for a flu pandemic"
Baxter and GSK two innovative approaches to vaccines
GlaxoSmithKline and Baxter are tackling the problems of existing vaccine production with two distinct, but innovative approaches.
Traditionally, vaccines are manufactured using hens' eggs, but this process requires very large amounts of eggs and takes at least six months, making it difficult to keep up with a rapidly mutating virus. The emergence of bird flu adds an ironic twist to the problem, as a pandemic could require the mass slaughter of flocks to stem the spread of the virus.
To overcome this obstacle, Baxter is developing an egg-less manufacturing system called serum-free, vero cell-based production.
The vero cell culture process can be initiated more rapidly thanks to its use of a native virus that does not need to be modified to allow growth in eggs, thus accelerating vaccine availability.
The company says vaccines produced using the process can be ready within around 12 weeks, significantly faster than with conventional methods.
Baxter adds that it has tested a number of influenza strains with pandemic potential, and has been able to produce large quantities of high quality vaccines quickly.
Meanwhile at GSK's vaccines R&D labs in Belgium, its scientists have developed an entirely new adjuvant system technology which adds a booster ingredient to the vaccine which needs just a small quantity of the antigen to protect patients. This is called the antigen-sparing effect, meaning existing production capacity can produce a far greater volume of vaccines for patients.
Early trials have also suggested the vaccine can recognise a wide range of strains of the H5N1 virus, holding out hope that it could protect the population immediately.
Professor John Oxford, Professor of Virology, Queen Mary's School of Medicine, and Scientific Director of Retroscreen Virology Ltd said: "This announcement by the UK government is very good news. The World Health Organisation and experts across the globe agree that an influenza pandemic is likely to occur, but cannot predict when.
"Despite this uncertainty, there is still the opportunity to be thoroughly prepared. This agreement is part of the preparation needed to protect the UK population when an influenza pandemic eventually strikes."
