Baxter International Inc. has announced that Baxter's European subsidiary in the United Kingdom has entered into an advanced supply agreement with the Department of Health that contains an option to purchase pandemic influenza vaccine in the event the World Health Organization (WHO) declares a pandemic.
Baxter will manufacture its pandemic vaccine in a serum-free, vero cell-based system, at one of the largest cell culture vaccine facilities in the world. The use of vero cell culture, rather than conventional egg-based technology, offers several advantages. Baxter's vero cell culture process can be initiated more rapidly due to its use of a "native" virus that does not need to be modified to allow growth in eggs, thus accelerating vaccine availability. Vaccines produced using this process can be released within approximately 12 weeks, significantly earlier than with traditional egg-based systems. In addition, all influenza strains with pandemic potential tested for growth in vero cells have produced replicable high yields, providing the company with the flexibility to quickly respond to emerging variant pandemic virus strains.
"We are proud to provide the necessary technology, manufacturing capability and other resources to assist the Department of Health in its efforts to protect the UK population from the threat of a flu pandemic," said Kim Bush, president of Baxter's vaccines business.