ID :
24312
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 14:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/24312
The shortlink copeid
French firm to launch 1st non-Japanese Hib vaccine in Japan by Dec.
HONG KONG, Oct. 13 Kyodo - A meningitis vaccine manufactured by a France-based company will be delivered to Japan's private healthcare market by December, the company's top official said in Hong Kong on Monday.
''It will be the first vaccine licensed by a multinational firm (that is being used) in Japan,'' Wayne Pisano, president of Sanofi Pasteur, said in reference to the vaccine for Hib -- Haemophilus influenzae type b infection.
Pisano said the vaccine has been used in other countries, but requirements in
Japan against vaccines are strict and take a long time to get final approval.
According to the World Health Organization, Hib is a bacterium estimated to be
responsible for some three million serious illnesses and an estimated 386,000
deaths per year worldwide.
The infectious disease mainly affects children under the age of 5, chiefly
through meningitis and pneumonia, the WHO said.
The Japanese authorities have received the first batch of vaccines, Pisano
said, adding that about 500,000 shots of the French vaccines will be available
each year.
To save on labor cost and expand vaccination usage in China, the company is
also building a 70 million euro ($95.2 million) manufacturing base in southern
China's Shenzhen, in addition to its filling and packaging facility already in
operation.
The new site, to start operation by 2012, will focus on making influenza
vaccines with an initial annual capacity of 25 million doses.
Like food, toys and other products, the quality of Chinese-made medicines
dropped into the spotlight after hundreds of illnesses and deaths reported in
the United States were said to be linked to tainted heparin, an anti-clotting
blood chemical extracted from swine intestines, made in China.
But Pisano said he will have no more worriers more about safety of vaccines
made in China than those made at other production bases.
The ''working seeds,'' as Pisano put it, will come from France and eggs hatched
exclusively from selected Chinese farms will be used to grow the vaccines,
while quality checks will be carried out in every step of manufacturing
process.
Pisano also said the Shenzhen production facility could be turned into
producing pandemic vaccines, such as one for human infections of the often
deadly bird flu virus H5N1, ''in a matter of weeks.''
''It will be the first vaccine licensed by a multinational firm (that is being used) in Japan,'' Wayne Pisano, president of Sanofi Pasteur, said in reference to the vaccine for Hib -- Haemophilus influenzae type b infection.
Pisano said the vaccine has been used in other countries, but requirements in
Japan against vaccines are strict and take a long time to get final approval.
According to the World Health Organization, Hib is a bacterium estimated to be
responsible for some three million serious illnesses and an estimated 386,000
deaths per year worldwide.
The infectious disease mainly affects children under the age of 5, chiefly
through meningitis and pneumonia, the WHO said.
The Japanese authorities have received the first batch of vaccines, Pisano
said, adding that about 500,000 shots of the French vaccines will be available
each year.
To save on labor cost and expand vaccination usage in China, the company is
also building a 70 million euro ($95.2 million) manufacturing base in southern
China's Shenzhen, in addition to its filling and packaging facility already in
operation.
The new site, to start operation by 2012, will focus on making influenza
vaccines with an initial annual capacity of 25 million doses.
Like food, toys and other products, the quality of Chinese-made medicines
dropped into the spotlight after hundreds of illnesses and deaths reported in
the United States were said to be linked to tainted heparin, an anti-clotting
blood chemical extracted from swine intestines, made in China.
But Pisano said he will have no more worriers more about safety of vaccines
made in China than those made at other production bases.
The ''working seeds,'' as Pisano put it, will come from France and eggs hatched
exclusively from selected Chinese farms will be used to grow the vaccines,
while quality checks will be carried out in every step of manufacturing
process.
Pisano also said the Shenzhen production facility could be turned into
producing pandemic vaccines, such as one for human infections of the often
deadly bird flu virus H5N1, ''in a matter of weeks.''
