World Health Org. plans 200 million doses of swine flu vaccine for 100 developing nations

October 12th, 2009 WHO eyes Nov. flu vaccine shipment to poor nationsGENEVA — The World Health Organization hopes to begin shipping 60 million doses of swine flu vaccine to poor countries in November as part of an effort to protect their fragile health systems from the pandemic, it said Monday.

September 25th, 2009 EU drug agency: License 2 swine flu vaccinesLONDON — The European Union's drug regulator recommended Friday that two swine flu vaccines be licensed in the 27-nation bloc to ensure their availability before the start of the normal flu season. The European Medicines Agency called for the vaccines made by Novartis AG and GlaxoSmithKline PLC to be granted a marketing authorization.

September 18th, 2009 WHO: Pandemic flu vaccine production to fall shortGENEVA — Global production of swine flu vaccines will be "substantially less" than the previous maximum forecast of 94 million doses a week, the World Health Organization said Friday. The number of doses produced in a year will therefore fall short of the 4.9 billion doses the global health body previously hoped could be available for the pandemic, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters in Geneva.

August 22nd, 2009 WHO seeks flu vaccine donations for poorer nationsBEIJING — The World Health Organization's flu chief urged drug makers on Saturday to donate swine flu vaccines to the world's poorest countries, which are more vulnerable in the fight against the pandemic. Dr. Keiji Fukuda said the agency is working hard to lobby the world's rich nations and flu vaccine makers for donations.

August 20th, 2009 Swine flu vaccine expected in Australia next monthCANBERRA, Australia — Australia said Thursday it expects to launch swine flu vaccinations starting next month, in what may turn out to be the first such program since the emergence of the disease in April. The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu strain a pandemic, and it killed almost 1,800 people worldwide through last week.

August 7th, 2009 LONDON — French drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur began human trials of its swine flu vaccine this week in about 2,000 people in the United States, the company said Friday — becoming the third company conducting clinical trials on swine flu vaccines. Sanofi Pasteur's trials began Thursday, testing both the vaccine's safety and how many doses would be needed to protect people from swine flu, the company said in a statement.

August 4th, 2009 Glaxo: 9 more countries order swine flu vaccineLONDON — Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline says that nine additional countries have ordered 96 million doses of swine flu vaccine since last month. That is in addition to the 195 million vaccine doses and products previously ordered by countries including Britain and the U.S., for a total of 291 million doses.

July 6th, 2009 UN chief: $1 billion needed against swine fluGENEVA — The United Nations may need more than $1 billion this year to help poor countries fight the global swine flu epidemic, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. Ban said the money is needed to ensure that poor countries get some vaccine doses and antivirals if the global epidemic continues to spread.

June 17th, 2009 Sanofi-Aventis to give pandemic flu vaccine to WHOTRENTON, N.J. — French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis plans to donate millions of doses of swine flu vaccine to the World Health Organization for use in poor countries, Chief Executive Christopher Viehbacher said Wednesday.

June 17th, 2009 Sanof-Aventis to give pandemic flu vaccine to WHOTRENTON, N.J. — The drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis says it will donate millions of doses of swine flu vaccine to the World Health Organization for poor countries.

June 12th, 2009 Novartis produces first batch of swine flu vaccineBASEL, Switzerland — Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG said Friday it has produced a first batch of experimental swine flu vaccine, a day after the World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic. The vaccine hasn't yet been tested and cannot be used in humans yet.

June 12th, 2009 Drugmakers rush to produce a swine flu vaccineLONDON — With swine flu now an official pandemic, the race is on among drugmakers to produce a vaccine. GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday after the World Health Organization declared a global flu epidemic that it would be ready within weeks to begin large-scale vaccine production.

June 11th, 2009 Summary Box: Pandemic declared; now what?LEVEL 6: World health authorities declared the new swine flu to be a pandemic — the first global epidemic since the Hong Kong flu of 1968. The pandemic alert status was raised to level 6, the highest possible.

May 14th, 2009 WHO meets on production of swine flu vaccineLONDON — As swine flu cases topped 6,600 worldwide, vaccine makers and other experts met Thursday at the World Health Organization in Geneva to discuss the tough decisions that must be made quickly to fight the evolving virus. Pharmaceutical companies are ready to begin making a swine flu vaccine — but as the virus constantly mutates, questions abound: How much should be produced? How will it be distributed? Who should get it? The expert group's recommendations will be passed to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who is expected to issue advice to vaccine manufacturers and the World Health Assembly next week.

April 29th, 2009 LONDON - Low and middle-income countries are less prepared than developed nations to fight an outbreak of swine flu, health experts say. 'Of particular concern is the ability of low-income and middle-income countries to detect and mitigate the effects of this new virus on their populations,' said The Lancet, an authoritative medical journal.