the world’s biggest provider of seasonal flu vaccines

The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis has announced that it will be donating 60 million individual doses of its vaccine designed to protect humans from the H5N1 bird flu. The donation will be handled by the World Health Organisation and will be given over a three year time period. This donation will be welcomed by the World Health Organisation who are trying to put together a stockpile of various anti influenza medications and vaccines which will be able to be used by poorer countries in the eventthat an all out bird flu pandemic starts.

Sanofi Pasteur which is part of the Sanofi Aventis company and which has researched this vaccine is the world’s biggest provider of seasonal flu vaccines with an estimated 40% of the worldwide market.

Richer countries have been busy buying drugs and vaccines to protect themselves but poorer countries that often have bad health infrastructure could be in great danger. The World Health Organisation has even placed vaccine and drug stockpiles in different parts of the world so that at the very short notice they could be sent to disaster areas.

The pharmaceutical company Roche has also donated millions of pounds worth of their influenza medication Tamiflu to the World Health Organisation and this medication is still known to be the most effective way to treat an individual who has already contracted the virus. Not to be outdone GlaxoSmithKline has also donated large amounts of its bird flu vaccine Relenza to the World Health Organisation.

Meanwhile research continues and scientists closely monitor any changes or mutations of existing avian influenza viruses. One scientist described making these new bird flu viruses as a game of cat and mouse where the shape and size of the mouse was always changing.