H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine

AstraZeneca Sets Sights On Swine Flu VaccineJavier Espinoza, 07.30.09, 03:00 PM EDT
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker rushes to produce 200 million doses for next year.
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LONDON -- Astrazeneca is in a hurry. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it is rushing to produce as many as 200 million doses of swine flu vaccine next year, as it posted a 5.6% raise in second-quarter profit and increased its guidance for the year.
Chief Executive David Brennan told Forbes he estimates his company can deliver 40 million doses in sprayers by March 2010 -- but he hopes to "step up" the number of doses to 200 million.
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"This is not business as usual. We have a public health crisis and we don't know how bad it is going to get. But there are only five companies that can produce the swine flu vaccines and we are doing everything we can to make them available as soon as possible," Brennan said.
Astrazeneca will have to solve a shortage on sprayers to be able to deliver the vaccine. Unlike traditional flu injections, the vaccine is sprayed into the nose, the common entry route for the virus.
"We have been very successful at getting 40 million sprayers over the course of several months but we need to find an alternative way of delivering the vaccine," Brennan said, adding that relaying the vaccine in drops could be an option.
So far AstraZeneca only has a license to develop flu vaccines in the U.S., but it has applied for one in Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, among others.
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The drug company said U.S. government orders for the vaccine would total $151 million of sales in the second half of 2009. Trials of the vaccine begin mid-August and it could be available by September, AstraZeneca said.
Astrazeneca is one of the smaller producers of the H1N1 vaccines. GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis have higher capacity; Novartis has already received 690 million orders.
Yet analysts are hopeful about Astrazeneca's abilities. "Astrazeneca has shown that it can participate in the market of swine flu vaccines. Nobody would have thought that it would be capable of doing so at such as scale but it would depend on whether it can reach the 200 million orders," said Ami Roy, an analyst with Nomura International in London. Roy said the drugmaker has already included the swine flu vaccine sales in its guidance for the year.