Hey, remember a few years back when we found out we were importing all our flu vaccine?

[hedgehog]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 15, 2009



HHS Awards $487 Million Contract to Build First U.S. Manufacturing Facility for Cell-Based Influenza Vaccine

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a $487 million multiple year contract with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., to build the first U.S. facility to manufacture cell-based vaccine for seasonal and pandemic flu. Because cell-based influenza vaccine can be made faster and in greater quantities than traditional vaccine, the new facility is expected to increase the U.S. capacity to make pandemic influenza vaccine by at least 25 percent.

Cell-based vaccine production could more easily meet surge capacity needs because cells could be frozen and stored in advance of an epidemic or developed rapidly in response to an epidemic. Cell-based vaccine production also dramatically reduces the possibility for contamination and promises to be more reliable, flexible, and expandable than egg-based methods.

Currently, influenza vaccines licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are made in specialized chicken eggs using a process that has changed little in over 50 years. In place of eggs, cell-based vaccine production uses laboratory-grown cells that are capable of hosting a growing virus. The virus is injected into the cells where it multiplies. The cells’ outer walls are removed, harvested, purified, and inactivated. Using this technology, a vaccine can be produced in a matter of weeks.


http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090115b.html


It must have been one of the last things done under the Bush administration. I'd prefer seeing this done by a dedicated government company, but there you are.

[NightWatcher]

1. as long as shady government officials are not sitting on their board of directors, It's cool

[Warpy]

2. About time!

Some industries are national security industries, basic industries we'll need in case there's ever another big war.

I wonder how long it'll take us to rebuild our industries to manufacture cloth and shoes.

[mzmolly]

3. A step forward.

K and R. :kick:

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. We are joining the 21st century? WHO KNEW

By the way this is a real NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE

[FarCenter]

6. From 2007 - EU approves Novartis's cell-based flu vaccine

Jun 13, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – The European Union (EU) has approved Novartis's seasonal influenza vaccine, Optaflu, putting the Swiss company in a position to become the first to market a flu vaccine grown in cell culture rather than eggs.

The vaccine has been approved for use in all 27 EU member states plus Iceland and Norway, Novartis announced today. It is expected to be available in Germany and Austria for the upcoming flu season and in the rest of the EU in 2008-09.

EU approval was expected after the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use endorsed the vaccine on Apr 26.

"Optaflu marks the first major innovation in influenza vaccine manufacturing in over 50 years," Dr. Jorg Reinhardt, CEO of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, said in a news release.

"The use of a Novartis proprietary cell culture technology enables a faster and more flexible start-up of vaccine manufacturing, offering the potential to more quickly respond to a potential pandemic influenza threat," the company announcement said.

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The US probably doesn't have patent rights to the European technology.