GlaxoSmithKline reports progress on bird flu vaccine

By Manager Online

27 July 2006 13:58

LONDON (AFP) - British pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday that trials of its vaccine created to combat the human form of bird flu has achieved a high immune response in patients.

GlaxoSmithKline chief executive JP Garnier added in a statement that the group expected "to make regulatory filings for the vaccine in the coming months".

The announcements by GlaxoSmithKline came on the day Thailand reported its first human death from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in more than seven months.

Health experts say that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form that is transmitted more easily between humans, marking the first stage of a global flu pandemic that could kill millions.

GlaxoSmithKline said that more than 80 percent of people who received a low dose of its vaccine showed a strong immune response.

"These excellent clinical trial results represent a significant breakthrough in the development of our pandemic flu vaccine," Garnier said.

"This is the first time such a low dose of H5N1 antigen has been able to stimulate this level of strong immune response."

The company claimed that no other H5N1 vaccine in development has managed to prompt such a strong immune response with similar levels of antigen dosage.

GlaxoSmithKline said its results were based on an interim analysis of a clinical trial conducted in Belgium which involved 400 healthy adults aged between 18 and 60 years old.

GlaxoSmithKline was meanwhile set to publish its first-half earnings results later on Wednesday.

The Manager