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Two vaccine formulations, Pandemrix and Panvex, have received a positive recommendation by the Australian Drug Evaluation committee, the next to the last step before winning registration approval in Australia.
This report from ninemsn.
Bird flu vaccines get first thumbs up
10:27 AEST Thu May 1 2008
By Tamara McLean
Two bird flu vaccines have won the first nod from a government committee for registration to protect Australians against an avian flu pandemic.
The vaccines, called Pandemrix and Panvex, have become the first to reach the final step towards registration in Australia, the pharmaceutical bulletin Pharma in Focus says.
The Australian Drug Evaluation Committee has recommended the formulas, which both protect against the H5N1 strain of bird flu responsible for outbreaks of avian flu in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
The committee said Pandemrix, developed by GlaxoSmithKline, would be used for "prophylaxis of influenza in an officially declared pandemic situation".
Panvax, by CSL, would be used for the "prevention of influenza caused by a pandemic strain of influenza virus," the bulletin said.
Both vaccines contain the H5N1 virus, which has killed 236 people and millions of animals in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Laos, Egypt, Romania, Turkey and Russia.
Australian experts have warned there is no guarantee the H5N1 is the most likely to mutate and spread, with other strains of influenza A like H7 and H9 also posing a potential threat.
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