Health: GlaxoSmithKline gets green light from EMEA for bird flu vaccine

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that European medical regulators have given the pharmaceutical giant permission to market a human bird flu vaccine it has already sold to several governments to stockpile in preparation for a pandemic.

The ruling from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) makes Prepandrix, which targets the H5N1 virus, the first vaccine to receive a licence for pre-pandemic use in all 27-member European Union states.

AAP reports Glaxo already has orders from Switzerland and the United States for the vaccine that it has spent some $US2 billion ($A2.1 billion) developing, based on the bird flu virus from Vietnam.

Switzerland has ordered eight million doses - enough to cover the country's entire population. The US Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 27.5 million doses.
Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting Publisher of i On Global Trends Sydney Irresistible and The Jeremy Young FilesLane Cove , NSW 2006