Sanofi commits 60 million doses of H5N1 vaccine for WHO global H5N1 vaccine stockpile

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-Aentis Group, is donating 60 million doses of H5N1 vaccine to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over the next three years for an H5N1 vaccine global stockpile.

Each year since 2004, Sanofi Pasteur has produced millions of doses of H5N1 avian influenza vaccine, both in France and in the United States. In April 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed sanofi pasteur's H5N1 vaccine, the first avian influenza vaccine for humans in the US.

Sanofi Pasteur recently conducted clinical trials with a novel, proprietary adjuvant aimed at dramatically reducing the amount of antigen needed to elicit a protective immune response to the H5N1 strain currently identified by global health authorities and experts as a potential source for the next pandemic.

The data shows the ability of this new investigational H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to generate a high immune response with a very low dose of H5N1 antigen.

Sanofi Pasteur says it is committed to producing as many doses as possible of its most advanced vaccine in the shortest possible timeframe should a pandemic be declared by WHO. Under such circumstances, sanofi pasteur's seasonal influenza vaccine facilities would globally be able to switch to pandemic vaccine manufacturing.

''The H5N1 virus is currently circulating in some of the poorest regions of the world and an outbreak of pandemic influenza would most likely hit populations living in areas with limited access to vaccines. This donation of H5N1 vaccine aims to address the needs of those most vulnerable populations,'' said Wayne Pisano, president and chief executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur.