H1N1 Fighters Get More Business (MEDI, GSK, NVS)
The H1N1 Flu, or the Swine Flu, is going to have more vaccine quantities for when flu season breaks out in 2009 and into 2010. Today, the HHS announced the department will commit $884 million to purchase additional supplies of two key ingredients for potential H1N1 vaccine. The funds will be used to place additional orders for bulk H1N1 antigen and adjuvant on existing contracts with Sanofi Pasteur, MedImmune (NASDAQ: MEDI), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Novartis (NYSE: NVS).
This is to further prepare the nation for a potential resurgence of the 2009 H1N1 virus. Every discussion we have had with health officials do not point to a worry right now. The weather is hot and kids are not in their learning germ-ridden incubators called classrooms. The HHS is obviously trying to build up everything it can build up for the 2009 and 2010 flu season.
Whether or not that flu vaccine becomes mandatory at schools is one thing that is still not known, but the continued increase in vaccine spending looks as though that is still a possibility even if it is not ultimately not made mandatory.
The vaccine ingredients will become a part of the pandemic stockpile, for use if a vaccination campaign is necessary. Antigen is the active ingredient in a vaccine that causes the human body’s immune system to develop antibodies that help fight an invading virus.
The HHS has already directed approximately $1 billion to be used for the development of a vaccine and for clinical studies to determine dose level and to assess the safety and effectiveness of potential vaccines.
Jon C. Ogg
