Posted: 23 May 2009 0333 hrs
GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday it was hopeful that the pharmaceutical industry would be ready to produce an anti-H1N1 flu vaccine by the end of June or early July.
"We're hopeful that by the end of June by the beginning July this will be the time that commercial companies will be in a position of being able to make a vaccine," said interim Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda.
However, Fukuda said experts were still mulling whether to give the go ahead for production as this may reduce or halt the manufacture of vaccines for seasonal flu.
"We will hold off on making this decision for a little while," he added.
Production of up to 4.9 billion doses a year of a vaccine against the new influenza A(H1N1) virus would be possible, according to a forecast presented to vaccine makers this week.
Apart from weighing the impact of the new virus against that of seasonal flu, issues like dosage and safety testing also have to be settled.
"There will need to be fast tracking of some of these studies," Fukuda said.
The WHO hopes to send candidate virus samples to drug companies by the end of this month to serve as a reference in making the vaccine.
Thirty vaccine makers from 19 industralised and developing countries were invited by the WHO to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss production of a vaccine against H1N1 flu.
A key issue for the meeting was the cost of the vaccine and its availability in the most vulnerable and poor countries.
The WHO is seeking funding from the World Bank and international health funds or foundations to help finance vaccine supply in such nations.
Fukuda underlined that a vaccine was one of the key steps to ward off a potential H1N1 flu pandemic as the new virus spreads around the world, despite its relatively mild symptoms for now in most cases.
Meanwhile, head of the WHO Margaret Chan had warned that the "sneaky" H1N1 flu virus could spread in developing nations.
"This is a subtle, sneaky virus, it does not announce its presence or arrival in a new country with sudden explosion of patients seeking medical care or requiring hospitalisation," said Chan.
She warned that "countries especially in the developing world, where populations are most vulnerable, should prepare to see more than the present small number of severe cases."
The spread in impoverished nations was one of the signals that the WHO was keeping an eye on before it declares a pandemic, instead of simply relying on geographical spread under its influenza rulebook.
The WHO's latest figures put the overall number of infections worldwide at more than 11,100, including 86 deaths.
- AFP /ls
From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.
GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday it was hopeful that the pharmaceutical industry would be ready to produce an anti-H1N1 flu vaccine by the end of June or early July."We're hopeful that by the end of June by the beginning July this will be the time that commercial companies will be in a position of being able to make a vaccine," said interim Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda.
However, Fukuda said experts were still mulling whether to give the go ahead for production as this may reduce or halt the manufacture of vaccines for seasonal flu.
"We will hold off on making this decision for a little while," he added.
Production of up to 4.9 billion doses a year of a vaccine against the new influenza A(H1N1) virus would be possible, according to a forecast presented to vaccine makers this week.
Apart from weighing the impact of the new virus against that of seasonal flu, issues like dosage and safety testing also have to be settled.
"There will need to be fast tracking of some of these studies," Fukuda said.
The WHO hopes to send candidate virus samples to drug companies by the end of this month to serve as a reference in making the vaccine.
Thirty vaccine makers from 19 industralised and developing countries were invited by the WHO to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss production of a vaccine against H1N1 flu.
A key issue for the meeting was the cost of the vaccine and its availability in the most vulnerable and poor countries.
The WHO is seeking funding from the World Bank and international health funds or foundations to help finance vaccine supply in such nations.
Fukuda underlined that a vaccine was one of the key steps to ward off a potential H1N1 flu pandemic as the new virus spreads around the world, despite its relatively mild symptoms for now in most cases.
Meanwhile, head of the WHO Margaret Chan had warned that the "sneaky" H1N1 flu virus could spread in developing nations.
"This is a subtle, sneaky virus, it does not announce its presence or arrival in a new country with sudden explosion of patients seeking medical care or requiring hospitalisation," said Chan.
She warned that "countries especially in the developing world, where populations are most vulnerable, should prepare to see more than the present small number of severe cases."
The spread in impoverished nations was one of the signals that the WHO was keeping an eye on before it declares a pandemic, instead of simply relying on geographical spread under its influenza rulebook.
The WHO's latest figures put the overall number of infections worldwide at more than 11,100, including 86 deaths.
- AFP /ls
From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.
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