From The Philadelphia Inquirer:An Australian company with U.S. operations in King of Prussia is in talks with the Food and Drug Administration to sell as many as 20 million doses of its seasonal influenza vaccine in the United States.
Australia's CSL Ltd. and its King of Prussia subsidiary ZLB Behring, a blood-products firm, plan to introduce an influenza vaccine in the United States by 2007-08, if the FDA approves.
Having more manufacturers of flu vaccine licensed in the United States, and having more vaccine doses, is seen by many as important to public health. The goal of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to have 185 million Americans vaccinated annually, but supply limitations have made that impossible.
"We welcome any new companies into the market, and hopefully that will alleviate any future shortages," said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen.
Brian McNamee, CSL chief executive officer and managing director, said in an interview that his company had already had "a fair amount of" discussions with the FDA. "We think we can provide doses for the 2007-08 season in the United States," he said.
Maybe we won't run out next year, like we have for the past few years. With exotic diseases like bird flu and SARS getting all the attention, it's easy to forget that "old fashioned" influenza is still killing millions worldwide annually. Adequate vaccine supplies would go a long way towards prevention.
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