Baxter Wins Contract to Develop Cell-Based H5N1 Vaccine

The European subsidiary of Baxter International (Deerfield, IL,  www.baxter.com) has won a UK National Health Service (www.nhs.uk) contract to develop two million doses of a cell-based candidate H5N1 influenza vaccine and complete delivery of the stockpile this year.

High-yield production of the candidate vaccine is based on Baxter’s vero-cell platform, which does not require the addition of any animal serum and has been successfully used to grow wild-type virus. Baxter’s vaccine production facilities are engineered for BioSafety Level 3 production, which allows the company to use wild-type strains to accelerate production.

The candidate H5N1 vaccine has yet to undergo full clinical testing to demonstrate safety and immunogenicity for pandemic flu.