UK to secure pandemic flu vaccine supplies

Britain moved yesterday to secure supplies of vaccines to counter a possible human influenza pandemic sparked by bird flu by signing deals worth 155 million pounds with two drugmakers.

Under the four-year deals, Britain's GlaxoSmithKline and US group Baxter International are committed to supply a pandemic flu vaccine as soon as the strain is identified and made available by the World Health Organisation, Britain's Department of Health said in a statement.

Glaxo, Europe's biggest drug maker, signed similar agreements last year with governments in Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark to supply its vaccine in the event of an influenza outbreak, which many experts fear may be triggered by bird flu.

Glaxo declined to give details of the deal but said it was one of the largest contracts it has signed to date for its pandemic flu vaccine.

"GSK plans to supply a 'tailored' pandemic vaccine as and when the pandemic strain is identified and made available by the World Health Organisation," the company said.

The companies' drugs could reduce demand for Roche's Tamiflu, which the World Health Organisation has recommended as a first-line defence against bird flu.

Glaxo's vaccine, which is made with a proprietary adjuvant, or additive, targets the H5N1 virus that has killed at least 193 people among the some 320 known cases since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.

Glaxo's vaccine uses only a very low dose of active ingredient, which should help stretch scarce supplies.