booger
12-09-2004, 12:30 PM
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/12/09/flu.vaccine.chiron/
Ban extended at flu vaccine plant
Thursday, December 9, 2004 Posted: 1436 GMT (2236 HKT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The UK government has extended by three months a ban on the production of influenza vaccine at Chiron Corp.'s plant in Britain.
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency -- Britain's health care regulator -- said the new ban would begin when the current order expires on January 3, 2005.
But the regulator said the extension was not a result of newly identified safety issues at the company's Liverpool plant.
"It is routine regulatory action to give Chiron more time to carry out the extensive and detailed remedial plan which is now being put in place," it said in a statement.
The new ban could potentially threaten next year's supply of flu vaccine for the United States.
The original ban pulled off the market 48 million doses of vaccine intended for the United States -- half the country's supply.
Chiron, in a statement on its Web site, said in order to meet timelines for delivery of FLUVIRIN(R) influenza virus vaccine for the U.S. market, production must begin no later than early spring of 2005.
Chiron Vaccines, based in Oxford, is the world's fifth-largest vaccines business with facilities across Europe, the United States and Asia.
A subsidiary of U.S.-based Chiron Corp., it is the world's second-largest manufacturer of flu vaccines, and this year it had been expected to supply nearly half of flu jabs in the United States.
-- CNN's Caleb Silver contributed to this report
Ban extended at flu vaccine plant
Thursday, December 9, 2004 Posted: 1436 GMT (2236 HKT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The UK government has extended by three months a ban on the production of influenza vaccine at Chiron Corp.'s plant in Britain.
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency -- Britain's health care regulator -- said the new ban would begin when the current order expires on January 3, 2005.
But the regulator said the extension was not a result of newly identified safety issues at the company's Liverpool plant.
"It is routine regulatory action to give Chiron more time to carry out the extensive and detailed remedial plan which is now being put in place," it said in a statement.
The new ban could potentially threaten next year's supply of flu vaccine for the United States.
The original ban pulled off the market 48 million doses of vaccine intended for the United States -- half the country's supply.
Chiron, in a statement on its Web site, said in order to meet timelines for delivery of FLUVIRIN(R) influenza virus vaccine for the U.S. market, production must begin no later than early spring of 2005.
Chiron Vaccines, based in Oxford, is the world's fifth-largest vaccines business with facilities across Europe, the United States and Asia.
A subsidiary of U.S.-based Chiron Corp., it is the world's second-largest manufacturer of flu vaccines, and this year it had been expected to supply nearly half of flu jabs in the United States.
-- CNN's Caleb Silver contributed to this report