Swine Flu now pandemic, race for vaccine is on

An article at Yahoo! last week looks at how drug makers are racing to come up with the vaccine to prevent the swine flu. GlaxoSmithKline has stated its vaccine will be ready to go into large scale production within weeks. Sanofi-Aventis has also started working on their vaccine. Novartis' vaccine has yet to be tested on humans.

One concern for individuals around the world is how developing countries will obtain access to these vaccines. Countries with lots of available capital have already signed contracts with major Pharma, guaranteeing that their citizens will have access to the flu vaccine. Many poorer countries, who usually have poor healthcare systems, will be left in a scramble to find vaccines for their countries.

The WHO believes that the swine flu vaccine will be approved and ready for sale by September. For more information, read the full article here.

To connect with more professionals in the Vaccines field, join our Vaccines Development Forum Group on LinkedIn or join us in Boston September 23-25 for the Vaccines Development Forum.

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Swine Flu Vaccination Meeting at World Health Organization

The AP reports that that vaccine makers and others met at the World Health Organization to discuss the current situation and production of vaccinations that will prevent the swine flu. There are already vaccinations being made, but there are other questions that have to be answered about the vaccine: How much should be produced? How will it be distributed? Who should get it?

Although many questions are still left unanswered, and reasons officials believe that they should continue on with the development of the vaccine as stated by David Fedson, a vaccines expert and former professor of medicine at the University of Virginia. "It's a foregone conclusion, if we don't invest in an H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, then possibly we could have a reappearance of this virus in a mild, moderate, or catastrophic form and we would have absolutely nothing."

To connect with more professionals in the Vaccines field, join our Vaccines Development Forum Group on LinkedIn or join us in Boston September 23-25 for the Vaccines Development Forum.

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