Belgian pharmaceutical and chemicals firm Solvay expects to launch a new version of its Influvac brand flu vaccine, based on a novel cell-based production process, in 2005. The speed of the new process means that a vaccine can be produced extremely rapidly and so reduce the death toll in Europe by millions in the event of a flu pandemic.
The firm says that its cultured renal epithelioid (MDCK) cell culture-based manufacturing technology will allow higher levels of pandemic preparedness due to its flexibility and rapid production times compared with current egg-based production methods. Each year, regulatory bodies around the world arrive at a 'best guess' for the most likely strain of flu in the forthcoming flu season, and manufacturers race to produce enough vaccine to cope with global demand.
Solvay UK chief executive John Peter explained that "if the predicted flu strain is not the correct one, or the flu comes at a different time of year, there are no suitable eggs readily available to produce a new vaccine. This new process can not only be started immediately and would cut the production time from six months to six to eight weeks, but can produce, in theory, unlimited quantities of vaccine."
The development of the new vaccine is being carried out at Solvay's virological laboratories in Weesp, the Netherlands, on which work started in January of this year with a €50 million budget. The company said that the new vaccine has already obtained marketing approval from the Dutch regulatory authorities and that steps are underway to gain pan-European registration by 2005.