IFPMA offers WHO industry expertise

Harvey Bale, director general of the Geneva Switzerland-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manu-facturers and Associations, has briefed the Executive Board of the World Health Organization about the efforts under-taken by the drug industry to prepare for a possible pan-demic influenza. Dr Bale also requested that the IFPMA's "unique expertise" should be included in the WHO's pandemic planning and decision-making processes.

Outlining industry preparations for a possible pandemic, Dr Bale said: "there are currently at least 28 prototype vaccines under development around the world by 13 different manufacturers in our IVS [Influenza Vaccine Supply] task force." The prototypes focus not only on the H5N1 avian-flu virus, but also on other viral strains that could mutate into a pandemic. Dr Bale listed the six viral strains (H2N2, H5N1, H5N3, H7N1, H7N7 and H9N2) and vaccine types which are being investigated by the pharmaceutical industry. The emergence of cell culture, instead of egg culture, as a means of developing prototype vaccines, "could offer the prospect of much quicker scale-up production," according to the IFPMA director general.

Dr Bale concluded his statement by calling on the WHO to bring the industry into its planning and decision-making process. He said: "this is essential for industry to bring its unique expertise in research and development, manu-facturing, safety, regulatory and logistics to bear on the current and future pandemic issues."