(CIDRAP News) The European Union (EU) this week approved a "mock-up" influenza vaccine made by Novartis to permit a faster start on vaccine production in the event of a flu pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) – A committee that reviews medical product applications for the European Union (EU) yesterday recommended approval of a cell-based seasonal influenza vaccine made by Novartis, improving the company's chance of becoming the first to market a flu vaccine grown in cell culture instead of in eggs.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) says nations and vaccine manufacturers agreed yesterday that it may be feasible to set up a world stockpile of H5N1 influenza vaccine and find a way to ensure that developing countries could access pandemic flu vaccine supplies.
(CIDRAP News) Influenza vaccine producers have projected they will make 127 million to 132 million doses for the US market for the 2007-08 flu season, a record amount that would top the nearly 121 million doses produced for the 2006-07 season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
(CIDRAP News) In an effort to improve developing countries' access to potential pandemic influenza vaccines, the WHO (World Health Organization) said today it is awarding grants to six countries to help them develop the capacity to make flu vaccine.
(CIDRAP News) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the nation's first H5N1 influenza vaccine, made by Sanofi Pasteur, which federal officials hope will buy some time to develop a more precisely targeted vaccine if the virus evolves into a pandemic strain.
(CIDRAP News) – An influenza vaccine grown in insect cells instead of chicken eggs proved safe and yielded a good immune response in a trial in healthy adults, possibly signaling a significant advance in flu vaccine production technology, according to a report published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
(CIDRAP News) New human cases of H5N1 avian influenza were reported in Cambodia and Egypt today, while Indonesian officials, according to one news service, said they would not resume sharing H5N1 virus samples unless vaccine manufacturers promise to provide the country with free pandemic flu vaccines.
(CIDRAP News) CSL Biotherapies, the US branch of an Australian vaccine producer, announced this week it has applied for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market a seasonal influenza vaccine in the United States.
Editor's note: Because of a technical problem, this story was not published until Mar 27.
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) opened a meeting with Asian health officials in Jakarta today to hear their concerns about access to H5N1 influenza vaccines and discuss solutions that might allow researchers to regain unrestricted access to H5N1 samples.
