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PANDEMIC FLU PLANS UNVEILED
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"1 l-fi ΙΙίβΡΜ'ΒβΗΗ^Κ ffll I IB PUBLIC HEALTH PANDEMIC FLU PLANS UNVEILED President Bush announces $7.1 billion strategy to improve preparedness P RESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH has announced an ambitious $7.1 billion plan to prepare the U.S. for a possible influenza pandemic. The strategy he outlined on Nov. 1 at N I H in Bethesda, Md., includes $1 billion to stockpile anti- viral drugs and more than $1 billion for vaccine development. The cornerstone of the Bush strategy is $2.8 billion for accel- erating the development of cell- culture technology for vaccine pro- duction. Current techniques using eggs involve a six- to eight-month process before a vaccine is avail- able. Bush is also asking Congress to strengthen liability protections for vaccine makers. The pharmaceutical indus- try appears to be pleased with Bush's plan, but some public health groups complain that it lacks key elements. "Today's efforts are an excellent and comprehensive first step" to prepare for a flu pandemic, says Billy Tauzin, president of the Phar- maceutical Research & Manufac- turers of America. A spokesperson for the advo- cacy group Trust for America's Health, however, says that "the budget request does not adequately fund support for state and local health departments." No cases of bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, have appeared in the U.S., Bush said at the meeting of scientists and public health of- ficials. But H5N1, which has killed 62 of the 122 people infected in Asia, is responsible for about 140 million bird deaths since 2003. Today, there is no pandemic in- fluenza anywhere, Bush noted, but in the past century, the world was "hit by three pandemics," in- cluding the 1918 flu episode, which "killed over half a million Ameri- cans" and infected one-third of the population. Although "the H5N1 virus has not yet acquired the ability to spread easily from human to hu- man," Bush said, it "has developed some characteristics needed to cause a pandemic. No nation can afford to ignore this threat, and every nation has a responsibility to detect and stop its spread." Bush laid out a three-pronged strategy to avoid a flu pandemic: improve the ability to detect out- breaks anywhere in the world; improve the capacity to produce new vaccines against a pandemic strain and stockpile vaccines and antiviral drugs; and improve re- sponse capacities at the federal, state, and local levels. To meet these goals, Bush is requesting $251 million to help foreign countries ex- pand their surveil- lance capacity. He is requesting $1.2 billion to purchase enough doses of an experimental vac- cine against H5N1 to treat 20 million people. In addition, he is asking Con- gress for $1 billion to build government stockpiles of the an- tiviral drugs Tamifki and Relenza. To help states develop flu preparedness plans, Bush is requesting $100 million. Congress has intense interest in fighting a potential flu pandemic. On Nov. 2, subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held hearings on the issue, and the Senate passed an amendment to the Heath & Hu- man Services spending bill that would provide $8 billion to battle bird flu. That measure will die, however, unless House negotiators approve it in conference. As a re- sult of this subcommittee activity, at least some of the funds Bush is requesting appear likely to be ap- propriated.—BETTE HILEMAN SERIOUS At NIH in Bethesda, Md., President Bush announces his strategy to combat a global outbreak of flu. VACCINES Chiron Accepts Higher Bid From Novartis A fter eight weeks of resistance, vaccine maker Chiron has accepted a sweet- ened offer by Novartis, the Swiss drug giant. Novartis will acquire the 58% of Chiron that it doesn't already own for $45.00 per share, or about $5.1 billion in cash. Novartis, which has owned 42% of Chiron for some 10 years, first offered to acquire the rest of the company on Sept. 1 for $40.00 per share, or $4.5 billion. At the time, Chiron rejected the offer as inadequate (C&EN, Sept. 12, page 12). With the deal, expected to be complete in first- half 2006, Novartis will get the world's fifth larg- est vaccine maker, albeit one that has been beset by quality problems. Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella says his plan is "to turn around the Chiron vaccine busi- ness, which will require investments in R&D and manufacturing to increase quality and capacity." Big drugmakers are becoming interested in vaccines after years of indifference. Novartis, for example, cites forecasts that the global vaccine market is poised to double in size to more than $20 billion by 2009. Some of the growth is expect- ed to come from pandemic preparedness. Late last month, the Department of Health & Human Services awarded Chiron a $62.5 million contract to manufacture a vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 avian flu virus strain. The agen- cy earlier signed a $100 million bird flu vaccine contract with Sanofi-Aventis. Chiron had overall sales last year of $1.7 bil- lion, of which $510 million was in vaccines. The firm is also involved in blood testing and biophar- maceuticals.-MICHAEL MCCOY WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG C&EN / NOVEMBER 7. 2005 9
Transcript of PANDEMIC FLU PLANS UNVEILED
"1 l-fi ΙΙίβΡΜ'ΒβΗΗ^Κ ffll I IB P U B L I C H E A L T H
PANDEMIC FLU PLANS UNVEILED President Bush announces $7.1 billion strategy to improve preparedness
P RESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH has announced an ambitious $7.1 billion plan to prepare
the U.S. for a possible influenza pandemic. The strategy he outlined on Nov. 1 at NIH in Bethesda, Md., includes $1 billion to stockpile antiviral drugs and more than $1 billion for vaccine development.
The cornerstone of the Bush strategy is $2.8 billion for accelerating the development of cell-culture technology for vaccine production. Current techniques using eggs involve a six- to eight-month process before a vaccine is available. Bush is also asking Congress to strengthen liability protections for vaccine makers.
The pharmaceutical industry appears to be pleased with Bush's plan, but some public health groups complain that it lacks key elements.
"Today's efforts are an excellent and comprehensive first step" to prepare for a flu pandemic, says Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America.
A spokesperson for the advocacy group Trust for America's Health, however, says that "the budget request does not adequately fund support for state and local health departments."
No cases of bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, have appeared in the U.S., Bush said at the meeting of scientists and public health officials. But H5N1, which has killed 62 of the 122 people infected in Asia, is responsible for about 140 million bird deaths since 2003. Today, there is no pandemic influenza anywhere, Bush noted, but in the past century, the world was "hit by three pandemics," in
cluding the 1918 flu episode, which "killed over half a million Americans" and infected one-third of the population.
Although "the H5N1 virus has not yet acquired the ability to spread easily from human to human," Bush said, it "has developed some characteristics needed to cause a pandemic. No nation can afford to ignore this threat, and every nation has a responsibility to detect and stop its spread."
Bush laid out a three-pronged strategy to avoid a flu pandemic: improve the ability to detect outbreaks anywhere in the world; improve the capacity to produce new vaccines against a pandemic strain and stockpile vaccines and antiviral drugs; and improve response capacities at the federal, state, and local levels.
To meet these goals, Bush is requesting $251 million to help
foreign countries expand their surveillance capacity. He is requesting $1.2 billion to purchase enough doses of an experimental vaccine against H5N1 to treat 20 million people. In addition, he is asking Congress for $1 billion to build government stockpiles of the antiviral drugs Tamifki and Relenza. To help states develop flu preparedness plans, Bush is requesting $100 million.
Congress has intense interest in fighting a potential flu pandemic. On Nov. 2, subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees held hearings on the issue, and the Senate passed an amendment to the Heath & Human Services spending bill that would provide $8 billion to battle bird flu. That measure will die, however, unless House negotiators approve it in conference. As a result of this subcommittee activity, at least some of the funds Bush is requesting appear likely to be appropriated.—BETTE HILEMAN
SERIOUS At NIH in Bethesda, Md., President Bush announces his strategy to combat a global outbreak of flu.
V A C C I N E S
Chiron Accepts Higher Bid From Novartis
A fter eight weeks of resistance, vaccine maker Chiron has accepted a sweetened offer by Novartis, the Swiss drug
giant. Novartis will acquire the 58% of Chiron that it doesn't already own for $45.00 per share, or about $5.1 billion in cash.
Novartis, which has owned 42% of Chiron for some 10 years, first offered to acquire the rest of the company on Sept. 1 for $40.00 per share, or $4.5 billion. At the time, Chiron rejected the offer as inadequate (C&EN, Sept. 12, page 12).
With the deal, expected to be complete in first-half 2006, Novartis will get the world's fifth largest vaccine maker, albeit one that has been beset by quality problems. Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella says his plan is "to turn around the Chiron vaccine business, which will require investments in R&D and
manufacturing to increase quality and capacity." Big drugmakers are becoming interested in
vaccines after years of indifference. Novartis, for example, cites forecasts that the global vaccine market is poised to double in size to more than $20 billion by 2009. Some of the growth is expected to come from pandemic preparedness. Late last month, the Department of Health & Human Services awarded Chiron a $62.5 million contract to manufacture a vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 avian flu virus strain. The agency earlier signed a $100 million bird flu vaccine contract with Sanofi-Aventis.
Chiron had overall sales last year of $1.7 billion, of which $510 million was in vaccines. The firm is also involved in blood testing and biophar-maceuticals.-MICHAEL MCCOY
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