The asian country plagued by bird flu needs a total of US$45 million to manufacture the vaccine in its own pharmaceutical factory and the $2 million seed money will be used for a pilot plant that can produce about 10,000 doses for human use.

Thailand has become the sixth country to receive such a financial incentive from WHO,
which earlier made such agreements with Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil.

[source:ETNA]

Tags: bird flu, influenza, vaccine

Post from: Blisstree

Thailand gets WHO money for bird flu vaccine production

According to the FDA website, the vaccine appears to prevent influenza in children as young as six months. Currently, the nasal spray is only recommended for children and adults age 5 to 49. However, clinical testing results also showed that children on FluMist were more likely to develop wheexing problems when compared to children treated with an injectable vaccine.

Honestly, I don’t know how well received this will be by young children. It’s hard enough to get my daughter to use a saline nasal solution sprayed into her nostrils. I think an injectable vaccine should work just fine. Besides, I recall her pediatrician telling me children ages 6 months to 3 years old have a pediatric-dose vaccine appropriate for their age. I wonder if FluMist formuation is the same.

Tags: FluMist, vaccine, influenza

Post from: Blisstree

FluMis effective for young kids, but may cause wheezing

Today, WHO announced that it just might help build that needed stockpile.

Countries led by Indonesia and Thailand have demanded in previous months that bird flu vaccines be made affordable for poorer countries for essential workers and first responders in the event of a flu pandemic. Of course 60 million doses will be inadequate, but coupled with the $15 million grant to develop domestic vaccines, at least this is a good start for those that don’t have resources to prepare for a pandemic.

Now if one calculates the global manufacturing capacity for a pandemic vaccine, about 500 million doses of a trivalent vaccine will be needed each year of pandemic. With a single strain vaccine, the stockpile escalates to 1.5 billion.

Obviously, that’s not enough for everyone on this planet. I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if that day comes. God help us all.

[source: Alertnet; image:30mins]

Tags: pandemic, vaccine, Indonesia, stockpile

Post from: Blisstree

WHO plans to stockpile bird flu vaccines for the poor

Influenza epidemics are associated with a rise in autopsy-confirmed coronary deaths.

An 8-year study found that coronary deaths due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) coincided with peaks of influenza epidemics. Published April 17 in the European Heart Journal, the team of Dr. Mohammad Madjid of the University of Texas studied autopsy reports in St. Petersburg, Russia and found that the odds of an AMI and chronic IHD death increased by 1.30 during weeks of flu epidemics.

Influenza is believed to destabilize atherosclerotic plaques in arteries of the heart, which can lead to an acute heart attack. People with the flu also tend to be dehydrated with high fever, causing the heart to work harder.

Unfortunately, a third of heart-disease patients don’t conside themselves a high risk for cardiac-related flu complications, and Dr. Madjid asserted that up to 90,000 coronary deaths a year in the USA can be prevented if every high-risk patient received an annual flu vaccination.

The CDC recommends vaccination for people with chronic medical problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, COPD and HIV/AIDS.

[source: Eur Heart J 2007 epub April17. Madjid M, Miller CC, Zarubaev VV, et al.; CIDRAP; image]

Tags: flu, vaccination, chronic medical conditions, heart, disease

Post from: Blisstree

Flu is linked to heart attack, research says

This is definitely a direct result of Indonesia’s hardballing last February, when it refused to share bird flu samples unless vaccines become more affordable to developing countries.

With the grant, these countries will be on their way to making domestic vaccines much needed by their populace. Currently, there is not enough pandemic vaccine to go around for the world’s population. And though it will take several years for before these countries actually start production, the grant is a big step toward it. Next major move is to make the bird flu vaccines cheaper, more effective and more accessible.

[source: CIDRAP; image]

Tags: bird flu, vaccines, WHO

Post from: Blisstree

$15M granted to six countries to produce vaccines

Despite throwing away 10 million unused vaccines from last season, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention approved the production of this much vaccine supply for the coming flu season.

Earlier this year, there were 18 million doses of vaccines unsold, due in part of delay in distribution and a mild flu season. There was worry that scenario will cause vaccine manufacturers to procude less for the coming season, and less people being vaccinated. So apparently, the four major vaccine makers – Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune – are not detered by last year’s glu and decided to increase production.

[source: CIDRAP; image]

Tags: vaccines, supply, 2007-2008 flu season

Post from: Blisstree

Will 132 million flu vaccines be enough next season?

Even if the vaccine only provoked an immune response in 45% of those tested, epidemiologists believe the vaccine is a solid start to stockpiling a vaccine against a bird flu that has spread unrelentlessly across the globe.

However, there are drawbacks to this particular vaccine manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur -

The period of time – a month- needed to administer two required doses is longer than health officials would like. Further, the amount of flu protein needed for a single course of the vaccine was also high, limiting the number of shots available. The vaccine will not commercially available. Basically, Sanofi’s client will the the US federal government only, which has already secured 6.5 million doses.

[source: baltimoresun]

Tags: human bird flu, vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur, US FDA

Post from: Blisstree

First US bird flu vaccine approved

“What’s important about Phase I/II data is that the results show that Baxter’s vaccine works against many strains of the H5N1 avian flu virus without any additives [adjuvant] to boost effectiveness,” said Baxter spokesman Chris Bona. “Additives can add additional cost and they are believed to cause side effects” such as headache and fever, he added.

Baxter has developed a cell-based technology for producing flu vaccines, allowing for larger quantities with a quicker process.

[source: Chicago Tribune]

Tags: baxter, bird flu, vaccines, influenza, virus, clinical trial

Post from: Blisstree

Baxter bird flu vaccine effective in humans

The federal Food and Drug Administration set an annual expiration date for destroying unused vaccines so the recipe for each new flu season only includes the three strains causing the most cases. No one has tested if the vaccines are potent beyond the June 30 date, but scientists say that most vaccines degrade slowly and are stable for another year or two, therefore still useful. Lawmakers have arguing that these vaccines should be kept until new doses are at hand, or donate the surplus to poor countries. Besides, destroying the vaccines before the summer deprives travelers of flu shots before they visit places where flu is in season. It also prevents summer vaccination for children needing a second dose.

However, I can imagine how much of a pain it will be to manage mixed batches of vaccines. And an old vaccine may also not get one the necessary immunity against the currently circulating flu strains.

Well, what do you think? Should we dump this year’s supplies of vaccines, or recycle them?

[Sources: journalnow.com; image]

Tags: flu, vaccines, FDA, medicine, health, virus, illness

Post from: Blisstree

Destruction of unused flu shots criticized

That’s the question that the Food and Drug Administration staff are asking themselves about Sanofi Aventis’ new bird flu vaccine. The FDA will meet on Tuesday to weigh approval of a bird flu vaccine that is less effective than previously published. In a follow up clinical trial, Sanofi’s two-shot vaccine stimulated an immune response in only 45 percent of study participants. Last March, published results showed that the vaccine protected 54 percent of patients, when tested a month after getting the second shot.

In an email response (to Bloomberg), Sanofi spokesman Len Lavenda said “no studies have been designed to actually measure protection since there is no widespread circulation of disease”.

So, we’ll know tomorrow whether the US has a new bird flu vaccine, and if the government is willing to take its chances at 50-50.

[Source: Sanofi Bird-Flu Shot's Benefit Isn't Clear, FDA Says]

[Image]

Tags: flu, bird flu, vaccine, Sanofi Aventis, FDA

Post from: Blisstree

FDA questions effectiveness of new bird flu vaccine