PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 534 - 11 Aug 2007

Pandemic flu preventionchallenging

The development of an effective influenza viruspandemic vaccine continues to be a significant, largelyunmet challenge, according to new research byDatamonitor.

Public awareness of the infection and itscomplications has remained low, despite the significantburden the disease places on the healthcare system.Fuelled by fears of a pandemic caused by the avianinfluenza H5N1 virus, interest in influenza drugs andvaccines has increased in recent years. As a result, theseasonal influenza virus market, worth about$US2.2 billion in 2006, is expected to reach a value of$US5 billion in 2016.

However, the development of influenza vaccinesremains challenging. Vaccine compositions need to bechanged each year to include currently circulating virusstrains, limiting the time available to manufacturers toproduce an entire years worth of supply. In addition,public demand for such vaccines varies greatly,influenced by weather, personal risk perception andseverity of the influenza season. Moreover, currentworldwide manufacturing capacity is only 350 milliondoses; manufacturers are expanding their productioncapabilities, aiming for a total capacity of 600 milliondoses by 2010.Datamonitor. Pandemic flu threat question remains unanswered. Media Release :27 Jul 2007. Available from: URL: http://www.datamonitor.com 809078279

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 11 Aug 2007 No. 5341173-5503/10/0534-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved