Been awhile since I posted regarding this baloney, so…
“The total investment in the facility is nearly $1 billion, through a partnership between Novartis and HHS to support the design, construction, validation and licensing of the manufacturing facility in Holly Springs,” the company said.
When it gets up and going, Novartis says the Holly Springs facility will be able to make 50 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine a year and up to 150 million doses of pandemic vaccine within six months of a pandemic being declared.
“As Congress heard in H1N1 preparedness hearings, the United States needs vaccine production that is more reliable and domestically produced,” David Price, the U.S. House of Representatives member who represents Holly Springs as part of his district, told a ceremony at the plant.
“Since the vast majority of influenza vaccinations are made abroad, Novartis … will put the United States in a better position to meet future influenza threats,” he said.
Wary of uncertain flu vaccine supplies, HHS has contracted with five different companies to make influenza immunizations for the U.S. market — Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, CSL, AstraZeneca unit MedImmune and GlaxoSmithKline.
“Novartis opens new flu vaccine plant in U.S.” by Maggie Fox, Reuters 11-24-09
One expert in a WHO H1N1 advisory group, Dr. Albert Osterhaus, has been subject to a Dutch government investigation. The government convened a crisis meeting after an article in Science magazine indicated that Osterhaus has financial interests in several pharmaceutical companies.
Osterhaus, known as “Dr. Flu,” is the head of the department of virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, University of Rotterdam. According to a European Commission Research website, Osterhaus is co-founder of two biotech companies and promotes vaccines as solutions for pandemics.
Another expert who advises WHO on vaccines, Dr. Frederick Hayden, is described as a flu-research coordinator from the Wellcome Trust in London.
However, according to the report, Hayden also serves as a “paid adviser” for pharmaceutical companies Roche, RW Johnson, SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome.
WHO expert Dr. Arnold Monto is also purportedly a paid consultant for MedImmune (a company that produces nasal flu vaccine), Glaxo Wellcome and ViroPharma. However, WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts never divulged those ties, according to the report.
The newspaper also states that numerous pharmaceutical companies maintain an active presence during WHO advisory group meetings, with representatives listed as “observers.”
Professor Tom Jefferson, epidemiologist at the Cochrane Center in Rome, told Information he believes the researchers’ dual roles are problematic, and he noted the WHO’s emphasis on drugs rather than proper hygiene habits.
“The WHO’s latest recommendation on the control of pandemic influenza has frequent washing of hands mentioned twice,” he said. “Vaccines and antivirals are, however, mentioned 24 and 18 times. Why would an international public-health agency focus on much more expensive interventions, such as vaccines and medication, when it is not proven that they work?”
Jefferson said washing one’s hands is the only proven method of flu prevention.
Wolf Dieter Ludwig, head of the drug commission of the German Medical Association, told Der Spiegel he has no doubt pharmaceutical companies have been seeking to capitalize off what he called a “nonexistent threat.”
“Swine-flu bribe fever!” by Chelsea Schilling, WND 12-7-09
Dang, Strategic Advisory Group of Experts – SAGE, get it? Cute, guys! Also noteworthy is this, from those conspiracy-mongers at BusinessWeek…
Some $135 billion in prescription drug sales will lose patent protection in the next five years, and there’s little in drug companies’ pipelines to replace those sales, says IMS Health (RX) consultant Alan Sheppard.Vaccines are in the class of biological drugs, which are expensive and difficult to produce, but that makes them less vulnerable to generic competition from weaker manufacturers. Moreover, with blockbuster drugs harder to come by, the success of Wyeth’s pediatric pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar, which now generates $3 billion plus in annual sales, proved that vaccines could be profitable.
***
In the short term, at least, H1N1 vaccine sales will give a major lift to sales at the three major European vaccine makers. GSK says analyst predictions for $1.7 billion of H1N1 vaccine sales in the fourth quarter are broadly accurate, and similar numbers are forecast for the first quarter 2010. Novartis says it expects $700 million in fourth-quarter sales alone of its H1N1 pandemic vaccine. And Sanofi-Aventis says it expects H1N1 sales in the fourth quarter to hit $500 million.
But the flu vaccine business, notes Vasella, is seasonal and unpredictable. Longer term, other areas such as cancer or meningitis offer greater opportunity. Indeed, analysts say Novartis’ two meningitis vaccines have multibillion-dollar sales potential. Novartis has much riding on their success, because analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein estimate that Novartis’ vaccine and diagnostics will generate 2009 sales of $1.5 billion but post a loss of $257 million.
Vasella says increased investment in vaccine research and development, clinical trials, and manufacturing are the reason for the losses. The company, for instance, spent $200 million over the past three years building a second manufacturing site in Liverpool, England, dedicated to the production of the H1N1 vaccine supplied to the U.S. “These kinds of investments are only justified if as part of an overall long-term strategy,” says Vasella. “We believe our investment will pay off.”
“How Big Pharma Profits from Swine Flu” by Kerry Capell, BusinessWeek 11-24-09
Fluzone High-Dose vaccine is an inactivated influenza virus vaccine indicated for active immunization of people 65 years of age and older against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine. This indication is based on the immune response elicited by Fluzone High-Dose vaccine and there have been no controlled clinical studies demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with Fluzone High-Dose vaccine.
“US Clears High-Dose Sanofi Pasteur Flu Vaccine for Elderly” PRNewswire via BioSpace 12-28-09
Now, INAD ‘n’at, but if yinz wash your hands, get plenty of rest and vitamin D, and avoid undercooked baloney, I guarantee you will live forever be healthier than otherwise.
Have fun and cuídate.
