Drug firm tests bird flu vaccines

An international clinical trial to test two vaccines against a human pandemic caused by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been launched by GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company said.

The two trials are being carried out in Germany and Belgium, with 400 adult volunteers taking part in each trial.

The Germany trial is based on a dossier which the company presented to European regulators last December. The dossier was presented to allow rapid European registration and production of a pandemic vaccine once a flu strain causing a pandemic is identified by the World Health Organisation.

In the parallel trial in Belgium, the company is testing a vaccine which would hopefully enable the individual's immune system to respond to different strains of the deadly H5N1 virus, thus offering broader protection against the threat of a pandemic, the company said in a statement.

Preliminary results are expected later on this year, and the company said it has plans to have a pandemic flu vaccine in production before the end of the year.

GSK Biologicals president Jean Stephenne said the company was moving forward with clinical trials of vaccines which could prove "a vital part of the world's response to a flu pandemic".

"While the first vaccine candidate aims at mounting a strong defence against a pandemic outbreak, the second vaccine may offer governments a preferred option to proactively stockpile and begin vaccination before the onset of a pandemic, significantly increasing the speed of a public health response in the event of an outbreak," he said.

Emmanuel Hanon, head of GSK's flu operations expressed the company's belief that vaccinating populations with the appropriate H5N1 vaccine will help to educate the body's immune system and reduce expected morbidity and mortality associated with a pandemic.

"This means that if the current bird flu mutates to allow human-to-human transmission, a vaccinated person will be better prepared to combat the H5N1 pandemic flu virus," he said.