First pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine available in Europe

Authorities in Europe have given approval for the first pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine.

The vaccine Prepandrix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drug manufacturer is meant to be used before or in the early stages of a flu pandemic.

Prepandrix triggers an immune response to the H5N1 strain of bird flu currently circulating in Asia, Europe and Africa.

The approval for a licence from the European Commission will place Glaxo ahead of rivals in the vaccine fields and the company says it has already received orders from some governments such as the U.S., Switzerland and Finland.

The approval follows a positive recommendation from experts at the European Medicines Agency in February and more orders are expected to be forthcoming from governments rather than the private sector.

Glaxo has promised to donate 50 million doses of the pre-pandemic vaccine to the World Health Organisation which should offer a degree of protection until a more precisely tailored pandemic vaccine can be produced.

The vaccine will enable governments to begin to inoculate their population before a pandemic - it uses the current H5N1 influenza virus.

It is expected that governments will soon start vaccinating some people with Prepandrix, combining it with seasonal flu jabs in order to prepare people's immune systems to fight off a possible future pandemic.

Other drugmakers including Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis are also working on bird flu vaccines.

Glaxo's new vaccine contains a special additive, or adjuvant, which allows a very low dose of active ingredient to be used in each shot; the challenge has always been how to make the maximum number of shots from the minimum amount of antigen, or active ingredient.

While H5N1 remains a virus affecting in the main birds, scientists believe it is the most likely source of the next global flu pandemic in humans.

It is expected that the virus will sooner rather than later, mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between people with the potential to cause a pandemic.

To date almost all human cases have been the result of contact with infected birds; the H5N1 virus has already killed around 240 people of 382 human cases since 2003.