UK swine flu cases fall
pharmafile | February 5, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | h1n1, swine flu
The government has warned against complacency over swine flu as it released figures showing UK cases had fallen to one of the lowest levels since the global pandemic first emerged last April.
In view of this the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) will be stood down next week following a decrease in the number of assessments and antiviral collections through the service.
This weekly measure fell from a high-point of 77 per 100,000 people in July to 12.5 per 100,000 in the week ending 31 January. From 11 February antivirals will be authorised via health care professionals, rather than the dedicated telephone and internet service.
But chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson stressed the importance of vaccination and noted that swine flu is likely to be the predominant influenza virus during the 2010 flu season.
The vaccination programme has gathered pace since Christmas as high-risk groups such as pregnant women and the under-fives are vaccinated in greater numbers.
Sir Liam said: “From now on, most deaths from the pandemic flu virus should be regarded as potentially preventable; general practitioners have the vaccine and stand ready to offer this vital protection. Parents should contact their general practitioner now to make an appointment.
“Young children who have the jab now will be protected should H1N1 (2009) influenza return in the next flu season. Pregnant women and those in all other at-risk groups should continue to have the vaccine as well.”
The total number of vaccine doses administered to priority groups in England to-date is 4.25 million, including 140,000 vaccinations to pregnant women and 404,000 to children aged between six months and five years.
The number of patients being hospitalised and admitted to critical care facilities is in decline, but the exact causes of a substantial number of deaths from the last few months are still being investigated.
Pharma’s swine flu vaccines
Currently GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Sanofi-Pasteur and Baxter provide A/H1N1 vaccines.
GSK’s vaccine Pandemrix is one of the biggest-sellers to governments across Europe, but the German orders for Pandemrix were recently cut by 30% and the company is currently in talks with the English and Welsh government over their future requirements.
Sanofi-Pasteur has this week warned the US government that millions of swine flu vaccines, including their own monovalent vaccine, will expire by 15 February as the vaccines are losing their potency more rapidly than expected.
Meanwhile, Novartis’ recently-announced fourth quarter sales figures saw a large boost from the distribution of their MF59-adjuvanted cell-based H1N1 vaccine Celltura.
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