A specialized group within the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), the Influenza Vaccine Supply international task force, has been created in February 2002 to assist business leaders in vaccine companies in making necessary decisions to ensure adequate capacity to produce and distribute influenza vaccine in interpandemic and pandemic years, as well as to assist health authorities policy makers in making decisions on vaccination recommendations and reimbursement, the level of vaccine use and vaccine delivery strategies.

Member companies are: Baxter, Berna Biotech (a Crucell Company), Biken, CSL Limited, Crucell, Denka Seiken, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (including former ID Biomedical), Kaketsuken, Kitasato Institute, MedImmune, Nobilon International BV, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (former Chiron Vaccines), sanofi pasteur, Sanofi Pasteur MSD and Solvay Pharmaceuticals.

The member companies - all involved in research, development and production of influenza vaccines, representing more than 90% of the world production - are putting together their efforts to ensure that in case of a pandemic, large quantities of a specific pandemic vaccine will be made available in the shortest period of time. Indeed, current worldwide production capacities are likely to be insufficient to meet the demand in case of a pandemic. The Scientific, Production and Research (SPR) subgroup of the task force is actively working on the technical issues for developing, licensing and producing a pandemic vaccine in close collaboration with national and international agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA.