# 997
Back in the 1970's, before the Swine Flu debacle, the United States was a major manufacturer of vaccines. We had the ability to produce more than 200 million doses in a few short months, and did so when the Swine Flu appeared to threaten.
No longer. Most of our manufacturing capacity shut down in the wake of litigation and congressional hearings over the swine flu vaccine.
Vaccines never were a high ticket item, and many companies decided that the profit margins on them didn't justify staying in business in the United States. There were less litigious nations where they could set up shop.
The result has been that we must buy more than half of our annual supply of influenza vaccine from overseas. And during a pandemic, that could be a major national security risk.
While it won't be operational for another 3 years, Sanofi is beginning to work on a major expansion of their vaccine plant in Pennsylvania.
Even with this expansion, capacity will only be 150 million doses a year. Enough for half the country.
Sanofi flu vaccine plant to triple US production
Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:11PM EDTBy Jon Hurdle
SWIFTWATER, Pa., July 19 (Reuters) - Influenza vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) unveiled a factory on Wednesday that will eventually triple its production of the vaccine as U.S. officials seek to boost output amid fears of a pandemic.
The vaccine arm of Sanofi-Aventis is the only U.S.-based producer of injectable flu vaccine. The plant will produce 150 million doses a year after the new 140,000-square-foot (13,000- square-metre) facility comes on line by 2010.
The $150 million facility will also be capable of producing vaccine against pandemic strains of flu. Experts expect a pandemic of influenza of some sort and the No. 1 suspect is the H5N1 avian flu virus, which has so far infected 318 people and killed 192 of them.
In the event of a pandemic, the plant will switch its entire production to that strain, officials told reporters.
"A pandemic would pose a unique challenge," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "You can't start planning vaccines (after) a virus appears."
About 70 million of the 120 million flu vaccine doses available on the U.S. market last year were made overseas. U.S. officials fear that in the event of a pandemic, plants might be nationalized by governments eager to protect their own populations.
In 2004, British officials unexpectedly closed a flu vaccine plant because of contamination, cutting in half that season's supply of vaccines for the U.S. market.
Sanofi's increased production is being aided by a $77 million grant for the retooled facility from the federal government. The federal government is spending $1 billion to expand vaccine production over the next five years.
(cont.)
