Baxter InternationalSwine seeks swine flu sample to begin work on vaccine

By Matrix | Published: April 28, 2009

Baxter International was the company that had released contaminated flu virus material a few months back that contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.

Source/Full Story:: Baxter International: Product contained live bird flu virus |Toronto Sun

The
company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in
Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live
H5N1 avian flu viruses.

And an official of the World Health
Organization’s European operation said the body is closely monitoring
the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter
International’s research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria.

“At
this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and
occupational risk is minimal at present,” medical officer Roberta
Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.

“But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.”

The
contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled
H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The
Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it
to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.

The
contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four
European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech
Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets
shouldn’t die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses.

Public
health authorities concerned about what has been described as a
“serious error” on Baxter’s part have assumed the death of the ferrets
meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter
International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of
information it has released about the event.

On Friday, the company’s director of global bioscience communications confirmed what scientists have suspected.

“It was live,” Christopher Bona said in an email.

The
contaminated product, which Baxter calls “experimental virus material,”
was made at the Orth-Donau research facility. Baxter makes its flu
vaccine — including a human H5N1 vaccine for which a licence is
expected shortly — at a facility in the Czech Republic.

People
familiar with biosecurity rules are dismayed by evidence that human
H3N2 and avian H5N1 viruses somehow co-mingled in the Orth-Donau
facility. That is a dangerous practice that should not be allowed to
happen, a number of experts insisted.

Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences.

While
H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed
to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both
strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus
able to transmit easily to and among people.

That mixing process, called reassortment, is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created.

And now, working with the World Health Organization on a potential vaccine for the recent outbreak.

Source/Full Story:: chicagotribune.com

With world health officials worried about the global outbreak of another deadly virus, Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc. once again finds itself involved in the action.

Baxter confirmed over the weekend that it is working with the World Health Organization on a potential vaccine to curb the deadly swine flu virus that is blamed for scores of deaths in Mexico and has emerged as a threat in the U.S.

Shares of Baxter were up 2.4 percent, or $1.16, to $49.23 a share in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Baxter, which has an emerging vaccine business, has worked with the U.S. and foreign countries in the past to develop vaccines for the H5N1 virus commonly known as bird flu.

Baxter has a cell-based technology that allows the company to produce vaccines more rapidly in the event of a pandemic than a decades-old method that uses eggs and can take weeks or months longer. Although the egg-based method has produced safe and effective vaccines, analysts say Baxter’s method can cut production times in half compared with the older process.

“Upon learning about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, Baxter requested a virus sample from WHO to do laboratory testing for potentially developing an experimental vaccine,” company spokesman Christopher Bona told the Tribune.

In the past, Baxter has developed vaccines and worked with countries to stockpile vaccines even while they undergo experimental testing.