|
As the summer is moves along and the approach of winter
brings with it the threat of a Swine Flu pandemic
(Influenza Virus A, H1N1) in Europe, all eyes are on the
Swiss pharmaceutical giants Roche and Novartis, in the
hope of the arrival of a vaccine.
But the manufacture of this vaccine appears to be more
difficult than first hoped. Regarding the manufacture
of a vaccine, a press spokesman for Novartis says that
“the performance is weaker than anticipated. We'll have
to produce for longer in order to achieve our
objectives”.
150 Million Doses Annually
The Swiss pharmaceutical group has set itself the aim of
producing 150 million doses per year. But this figure
can not be confirmed until after the trials at the end
of July, according to the spokesman, who announced a
product for the European market in autumn.
Novartis reported “good progress in creating a vaccine
against the new strain of influenza virus A (H1N1)”,
claiming to have “started the production of this antigen
on a large scale in all its plants in Europe”. Novartis
said “several orders of the H1N1 vaccine are being
negotiated with more than 35 governments”, according to
the laboratory. United States, France, Holland and
Switzerland have placed them on order.
Roche, the other Swiss pharmaceutical giant which
manufactures the only drug capable of fighting the virus
containing the swine flu, Relenza, has benefited
particularly from increased demand for Tamiflu.
Sales Triple
Sales of this drug have tripled to 1,000 million Swiss
francs ($933 million 656 million Euros), with a
particularly rapid rise in Japan (+1510%) and Europe
(+869%). Roche plans to strengthen the production of
Tamiflu, to achieve up to “the end of September, early
October”, an annual production of 110 million
treatments, reported a spokesman.
If necessary, the laboratory based in Basel, will put
its 19 plants which are spread over a dozen countries at
peak performance by the beginning of 2010, reaching an
annual production of 400m treatments. By comparison, in
the past five years, Roche produced 300 million
treatments.
The Beginning of Clinical Trials
“Clinical trials have just started in some countries”,
confirmed the World Health Organization (WHO), “we will
know more in a few weeks after the first shots, because
you have to see the reaction of people and their
antibodies, to see if an injection is sufficient or if
it takes two”, a spokesman for the organization said.
But in this particular race to produce vaccines, the
Swiss pharmaceutical giants are not alone. British
laboratory GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which produces the
above mentioned Relenza, has also begun developing a
vaccine to combat a possible pandemic.
Swisslatin / adapted by Stephen Hinsch
(6.8.2009) |
