Novartis starts testing its swine flu vaccine

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has begun injecting its swine flu vaccine into people in the company's first human tests, a spokesman said today.

The vaccine is being tested in a yearlong trial of 6,000 people of all ages in Britain, Germany and the United States, Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff told The Associated Press, adding that the vaccine will likely be on the market before the trial finishes.

A person in Britain became the first to get the swine flu vaccine about 10 days ago, he said.

Since swine flu was declared to be a pandemic, or global outbreak, by the World Health Organization in June, pharmaceuticals have been racing to get their vaccines ready.

 

Last month, Australian drugmaker CSL became the first vaccine maker to start testing its vaccine in humans in Australia.

"We initiated clinical trials about 10 days ago," Althoff said.

Half of Novartis' vaccines being tested are grown in chicken eggs, the traditional way of making flu vaccines, while the other half use a new cell-based technology.

The trial will test the vaccine's safety and whether one or two shots are necessary.

"Our assumption is that two doses will be required," Althoff said.