World must invest in birdflu vaccine, Tamiflu: WHO official  (Feb. 17,2006)

The world has spent more than $3 billion to stockpile anti-virals against bird flu like Tamiflu but is not investing enough to develop an influenza pandemic vaccine, a top official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Klaus Stohr, WHO's special adviser on influenza pandemic vaccine development, also said that while preliminary results from several clinical trials looked "promising," much more work was needed.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a disease of poultry, but has infected 169 people, killing 91 in Asia and the Middle East since 2003, and could spark a pandemic that could kills millions of people, according to the United Nations health agency. So far the only solution for this virus has been Tamiflu.

"Progress in developing a pandemic vaccine has been slow, certainly compared to the risk we currently see from H5N1," Stohr told Reuters in an interview.

"Compared to investment in anti-virals, influenza vaccine development has received too little attention even though it is one of the most promising health interventions in a pandemic," he said. It seems that most companies are looking for quick fixes like Tamiflu which has been helpfull in early symptoms of the flu.

Governments have spent at least an estimated $3 billion stockpiling doses of Roche's Tamiflu, according to Stohr. But currently available doses of the anti-viral would cover only two percent of global population.

The Tamiflu tab dwarfs the estimated $20 million that companies are spending on clinical trials to develop a pandemic vaccine, he said. Governments including the United States are investing to expand manufacturing plants, but there are no global figures.

"A vaccine could bring protection to many more people -- you get more bang for the buck," Stohr said.