Sunday, October 09, 2005

Our lives in their hands

President Bush met with executives of the world's leading vaccine companies last Friday afternoon to discuss what they and the U.S. government can do to help forestall a major pandemic of the deadly avian flu.

Avian flu bears a striking genetic resemblance to the Spanish flu, which killed an estimated 50 million people in 1918 with remarkable speed. Like the Spanish flu, the avian flu mainly targets the lungs and will be particularly deadly to the young, the old and those with compromised immunity.

The meeting focused on how an effective avian-flu vaccine could be repidly massed-produced and whether newer production techniques will be needed.

Representatives from GSK, Wyeth, Chiron Corp., Merck, MedImmune Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis met with the president.

The companies also discussed their concerns about being held liable for any recipients who respond poorly to the vaccine.

Insider wonders if it was Merck who led the discussion on the latter point?

Source: Dow Jones

Also see:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100701808.html

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