Novartis nears swine flu vaccine but won't donate any to developing countries

Date: 22 Jun 2009

Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis drew unfavourable comparisons with its competitors GlaxeSmithKline and Sanofi by saying it would not donate swine flu vaccine to the World Health Organisation for poorer nations in the event of it making the breakthrough.

The WHO had called on pharmaceutical companies to show common cause by offering vaccines to the poor. But the Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella was reported by the Financial Times as saying that, although the company would consider offering discounted pricing to low–income nations, it would offer no product for free.

Sanofi has promised 100m doses of flu vaccine, and GSK has offered 50m.

The problem is complicated by the fact that much of the stock of H1N1 vaccines have been reserved by governments in response to the WHO's description of the flu as having achieved the status of a global pandemic. Around 1m infections are thought to have taken place in the United States, although very few of these have led to fatalities. The prospect of serious shortages of vaccine is likely to be bad news for poorer nations.

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