| April
17, 2007--Sanofi
Pasteur’s vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1
influenza virus (bird flu) has become the first to receive
U.S. FDA approval.
Of
the nearly 300 people worldwide who have been infected
with the H5N1 virus since 2003, more than half have died.
There have been no reported human cases of H5N1 infection
in the United States.
If
the current H5N1 strain mutates to become easily
transmissible among humans and triggers a pandemic, Sanofi
Pasteur’s vaccine may provide early limited protection
until the development of more effective vaccines.
In a
news release from the FDA, Andrew C. von Eschenbach,
Commissioner of Food and Drugs, cited the approval of this
vaccine as an important step forward in protection against
an influenza pandemic.
Sanofi
Pasteur will not sell the vaccine commercially. It
has been purchased for inclusion within the U.S. Strategic
National Stockpile for distribution by public health
officials if necessary.
|
