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Officials fail to agree on flu virus sharing
By Andrew Jack in London and John Aglionby in Jakarta
Published: May 23 2007 05:29 | Last updated: May 23 2007 13:52
The swift development of new vaccines to protect against a future flu pandemic was threatened on Wednesday after countries failed to resolve differences over the rules for sharing virus samples.
On its final day, the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva agreed a face-saving resolution to support sharing among World Health Organisation researchers but deferred a decision on clarifying their use by others including vaccine manufacturers.
The action followed tough tactics to push for greater and more affordable access to pandemic vaccines in the developing world led by Indonesia, which has been worst hit to date with human deaths from the lethal H5N1 flu virus.
Indonesia said last week that after a six month moratorium it had resumed supplying its human H5N1 samples to World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centres, in line with the long-standing practice originally developed for the production of annual seasonal flu vaccines.
It welcomed the compromise resolution that urges the WHO?s member states to support ?the timely sharing of viruses? and ?to aim to ensure and promote transparent, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from ... vaccines and other technologies.?
?We didn?t get everything for Indonesia that we wanted but what we have is an agreement where the world is the winner,? Triyono Soendoro, a deputy health minister, told the Financial Times. ?There is no loser. The system has been revised.?
However, Indonesia has several times announced it would resume sharing and then ceased again in the past few months. China has not provided samples for a year. Pressure has since grown, with Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, last week accusing countries that did not cooperate of putting global public health at risk.
The latest resolution delays for at least two months revisions to the terms of reference for ?oversight mechanisms ... draft standard terms and conditions for sharing viruses? between the WHO and third parties.
It calls for an interdisciplinary working group to draw up conditions for virus sharing based on ?overriding principles? permission that must be sought directly from countries supplying samples for any use beyond the WHO?s terms of reference.
It stresses that vaccine manufacturers should be able to gain ?full access? to viruses ?in times of public health emergencies?, but does not clarify the current situation when they require the latest H5N1 strains to help develop and test prototypes.
WHO officials said the working group was unlikely to meet before July at the earliest, and failure to agree would shift a decision to another meeting in October and ultimately to next year?s health assembly.
Existing practice is to allow samples to be shared freely between the WHO and vaccine manufacturers, reducing any delays in the development of new vaccines which currently take several months to produce.
Indonesia initially ceased to share samples last year after it discovered that - in line with existing arrangements - CSL of Australia had developed a prototype pandemic flu vaccine for sale made using Indonesian strains provided via the WHO.
Sharing is essential in the fight against flu, because the virus is constantly mutating and new vaccines must constantly be produced to be effective to each new variant. Several companies are developing prototype vaccines for H5N1, which in a mutated form could be the basis for a pandemic.
Officials fail to agree on flu virus sharing
By Andrew Jack in London and John Aglionby in Jakarta
Published: May 23 2007 05:29 | Last updated: May 23 2007 13:52
The swift development of new vaccines to protect against a future flu pandemic was threatened on Wednesday after countries failed to resolve differences over the rules for sharing virus samples.
On its final day, the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva agreed a face-saving resolution to support sharing among World Health Organisation researchers but deferred a decision on clarifying their use by others including vaccine manufacturers.
The action followed tough tactics to push for greater and more affordable access to pandemic vaccines in the developing world led by Indonesia, which has been worst hit to date with human deaths from the lethal H5N1 flu virus.
Indonesia said last week that after a six month moratorium it had resumed supplying its human H5N1 samples to World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centres, in line with the long-standing practice originally developed for the production of annual seasonal flu vaccines.
It welcomed the compromise resolution that urges the WHO?s member states to support ?the timely sharing of viruses? and ?to aim to ensure and promote transparent, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from ... vaccines and other technologies.?
?We didn?t get everything for Indonesia that we wanted but what we have is an agreement where the world is the winner,? Triyono Soendoro, a deputy health minister, told the Financial Times. ?There is no loser. The system has been revised.?
However, Indonesia has several times announced it would resume sharing and then ceased again in the past few months. China has not provided samples for a year. Pressure has since grown, with Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, last week accusing countries that did not cooperate of putting global public health at risk.
The latest resolution delays for at least two months revisions to the terms of reference for ?oversight mechanisms ... draft standard terms and conditions for sharing viruses? between the WHO and third parties.
It calls for an interdisciplinary working group to draw up conditions for virus sharing based on ?overriding principles? permission that must be sought directly from countries supplying samples for any use beyond the WHO?s terms of reference.
It stresses that vaccine manufacturers should be able to gain ?full access? to viruses ?in times of public health emergencies?, but does not clarify the current situation when they require the latest H5N1 strains to help develop and test prototypes.
WHO officials said the working group was unlikely to meet before July at the earliest, and failure to agree would shift a decision to another meeting in October and ultimately to next year?s health assembly.
Existing practice is to allow samples to be shared freely between the WHO and vaccine manufacturers, reducing any delays in the development of new vaccines which currently take several months to produce.
Indonesia initially ceased to share samples last year after it discovered that - in line with existing arrangements - CSL of Australia had developed a prototype pandemic flu vaccine for sale made using Indonesian strains provided via the WHO.
Sharing is essential in the fight against flu, because the virus is constantly mutating and new vaccines must constantly be produced to be effective to each new variant. Several companies are developing prototype vaccines for H5N1, which in a mutated form could be the basis for a pandemic.
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