More effort needed for European flu pandemic plans

by Scrip News,
SCRIP World Pharmaceutical News

Influenza Preparedness, 03 Nov 2005 - All 25 EU member states now have flu pandemic preparedness plans in place but more efforts are needed to ensure their adequate funding and proper implementation.

This was one conclusion of a conference organised by the European Commission and the European regional office of the World Health Organization in Denmark on October 24th-26th. As well as the EU, 21 countries in the WHO's European region have preparedness plans in place, the conference was told.

Health and consumer protection commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the EU now had a clearer picture of the preparedness of EU member states for dealing with a potential flu pandemic. "We have made progress in recent months, which is not to say that we can rest on our laurels, as there is more progress to be made," he declared.

Participants at the meeting called for more co-operation between countries at the European and international levels on issues such as disease surveillance, better harmonisation of control measures among neighbouring countries, and risk communication. While stockpiling antivirals and ensuring timely production of pandemic vaccines was important, delegates said plans should also address other issues such as strengthening laboratory capacity and increasing personnel training.

While antivirals could help slow down an outbreak and buy time for vaccine development, they needed to be used responsibly to avoid the emergence of drug-resistant strains, delegates were told.

over-use of antivirals concerns

There is widespread concern that the recent buying and hoarding of Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) by individuals and companies could lead to its inappropriate use, as well as to shortages for use in seasonal flu. Roche has already temporarily suspended sales of the product in the US and Canada to ensure an adequate supply to those who need it for seasonal flu.

The company is also reported to be taking similar action in other countries. According to a report in the Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, the company is holding back stocks intended for the Norwegian market for use in seasonal flu after record demand for the antiviral emptied stocks in pharmacies. The Norwegian authorities have already secured enough Tamiflu to treat 1.4 million people, the newspaper said.

new vaccine

Meanwhile, experts from the UK, Italy and Norway, in collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur, have developed what they claim is the first human candidate vaccine against the H7N1 avian flu virus. Although the H5N1 virus is expected to be the one most likely to mutate to cause a human pandemic, a report from the FLUPAN research project says that H7N1 virus can also spread from poultry to humans.

The H7N1 virus caused lethal outbreaks in Italian poultry in 1999 and was related to the H7N7 poultry virus found in the Netherlands. The virus has been modified and produced using reverse genetics rather than being grown in eggs, and is now being used by Sanofi Pasteur to produce a vaccine.

While the risk of H7N1 emerging as a pandemic strain is lower than that of H5N1, research on this strain will be a valuable resource for pandemic vaccine development in future, says the European Commission. The research was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (October 15th, page 1,318).

The FLUPAN project, which began in September 2001 and is funded by the EU, aims to develop vaccines against highly pathogenic avian flu viruses. It consists of the following partners: the UK Health Protection Agency, the UK National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Italy's Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Sanofi Pasteur and the vaccines business of the Sanofi-Aventis group, and the universities of Bergen, Norway, and Reading, UK.

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