http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aXevfFOQLuds&refer=top_world_newsScientists Make Human Vaccine for H7N1 Bird Flu Virus
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Union scientists and researchers from Sanofi-Aventis SA have developed the first human vaccine for the H7N1 bird flu virus, which can spread from poultry to people.
While the H5N1 strain is responsible for killing at least 62 people in Asia since 2003, H7N1 may also be deadly to humans. The virus mutated in 1999 into a highly pathogenic form in Italy, where 13 million birds died or were destroyed, and was related to the H7N7 outbreak in the Netherlands that led to the slaughter of 25 million birds in 2003.
``The risk of H7 emerging as a pandemic influenza strain is considered to be lower than H5N1,'' the European Commission said in a statement issued today in Brussels. ``Nonetheless, it is expected that the H7 research will be a valuable resource for pandemic vaccine development in the future.'' <snip>
GlaxoSmithKline Plc, whose flu treatment Relenza competes with Tamiflu, said today it will seek partners to increase production of the medicine. The company, Europe's biggest drugmaker, is also preparing to convert some of its manufacturing facilities to produce a ``pandemic flu vaccine'' and said it's developing an H5N1 prototype pandemic vaccine for which clinical trials will begin ``shortly.'' <snip>