Flu Crisis Prompts Broadest Vaccine Redesign Since 1981

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-18/flu-crisis-prompts-broadest-vaccine-redesign-since-1981.html


Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/AP Photo
Sentara Princess Anne Hospital in Virginia Beach strongly recommends that all patients and visitors to their facility wear masks to curtail the spread of the flu.

With the worst flu outbreak since 2009 gripping the U.S., vaccine makers are determined to do better next season. They’re developing powerful vaccines that hold the promise of cutting incidences of flu by the thousands.

The new immunizations represent the broadest flu treatment update in three decades, while more than 200,000 American are hospitalized yearly with the disease, according to U.S. health officials. Health officials were caught off-guard last month when the flu season started earlier than in past years, with 48 states now reporting widespread disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

Existing vaccines miss significant quantities of the virus circulating in any given year. This year, for instance, as many as 4 million people may develop influenza from a strain of virus that isn’t included in the current vaccine. Now, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) are each preparing immunizations that for the first time will cover all four main forms of the virus, including both influenza B strains that often infect children.

“The unpredictability of influenza means it’s best to have the broadest coverage possible,” said Chris Ambrose, vice president of medical and scientific affairs for AstraZeneca’s MedImmune division. “If I am sick, the flu is the flu.”