GOLD RUSH -- Vaccine team prepared if virus mutates

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-11/17/content_495404.htm

Vaccine team prepared if virus mutates
By Zhang Feng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-17 05:56



The scientist who led the team which produced China's first vaccine for human infections of bird flu has said his company is ready even if the virus mutates.

"The vaccine we have now is specifically against H5N1 bird flu. But we are also capable of producing vaccines against other types of influenza if the virus develops into other forms," said Yin Weidong, managing director of Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co Ltd.

Yin, the leader of the expert group that began to develop the vaccine on March 17, 2004, told China Daily in an exclusive interview that his company is awaiting official approval for testing on humans.

His enterprise has set up all facilities for production, quality control and vaccine storage, Yin said.

The original virus used for the research was obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) laboratories, and it was proved that it can cause bird flu in chicken, rats and other animals.

Scientists also proved that the vaccine developed from the H5N1 virus could cause anti-bodies in rats and was effective in animal tests, Yin noted.

It is based on this experience that Yin is confident of developing other vaccines against various types of bird flu.

Experts are getting set for human testing, which might be carried out in some big hospitals in Beijing, but no volunteers have been recruited yet.

Lin Jiangtao, the top doctor in respiratory diseases at Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, said that he was preparing for the test.

Lin was the lead doctor in human tests of a vaccine against SARS, which was also developed and produced by Yin's enterprise.

Yin said although the bird flu vaccine cannot be used before it passes human tests, it might be injected among some high-risk groups such as doctors and poultry workers should a human pandemic break out, Yin said.

So far the only available medication which has been proven to be effective against bird flu is the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, produced by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG.