Swine Flu Vaccine Orders Increase

Yesterday, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK - Analyst Report) announced that orders for its pandemic (H1N1) adjuvanted vaccine have increased significantly in the past two months. On Aug 4, the company reported that it had contracts for the supply of 291 million doses of the swine flu vaccine. The company had several agreements in place with the U.S. Government for the supply of pandemic products worth $250 million.

The company has reported that it received 22 government orders for the supply of an additional 149 million doses of the vaccine, bringing the total order to 440 million doses. The company is in discussions with several governments for further supplies. 

GlaxoSmithKline started shipping the first supplies of the vaccine earlier this week. The vaccines will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first half of 2010. Vaccine deliveries are contingent on several factors such as government import/export regulations, regulatory approvals, approvals for outsourced packaging and filling as well as testing required by reference laboratories. 

While GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine received approval in the European Union in late Sep 2009, the U.S. approval is yet to come. 

The current outbreak of swine flu pandemic can prove to be a major opportunity for vaccine manufacturers. In addition to GlaxoSmithKline, other major players in the vaccine segment such as Sanofi-Aventis (SNY - Analyst Report), Novartis (NVS - Snapshot Report), Baxter International (BAX - Analyst Report) and AstraZeneca (AZN - Analyst Report) are looking to market their vaccines at the earliest. 

In fact, several companies including Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, the vaccine and diagnostics arm of Novartis, MedImmune LLC, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca and CSL Limited of Australia, have already received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their swine flu vaccines.

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