Because MoM has been on top of the flu story for quite awhileshe
might be interested in this… and if Washington Post contributor Anne Applebaum is interested in upping her science knowledge base on the matter, maybe she will, too.
A bird flu vaccine without eggs?
French drug maker Sanofi and others working on a flu vaccine October 21, 2005: 1:01 PM EDT
By Aaron Smith, CNN/Money staff writer
Back in April, the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (down $0.30 to $40.30, Research) was awarded a $97 million contract by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to develop a cell-based method of flu vaccine production sans oeufs. Dr. James Matthews, senior director of science and health policy for the vaccine-making subsidiary Sanofi Pasteur, said that growing the vaccines in cell cultures could shave a month off the six-month egg method, speeding up worldwide production in a capacity-constrained market.
…..Sanofi is the first company to be awarded a U.S. government contract for developing a new method of vaccine production, but it is not the only drug maker experimenting with alternate methods. Crucell, which works on cell-based and DNA-based methods of vaccine production, has also licensed its technology to British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss drug maker Roche, according to Bernstein analyst Gbola Amusa, who projected that a non-egg production method could be on the market by 2008. PowderMed, a privately-held British company, is also developing DNA-based methods for vaccine production, while Philadelphia-based Hemispherx Biopharma is working on a cell-based method.“We’re very active in cell-based work,” said Hemispherx chief executive officer William Carter. “We’d like to get [vaccine production] down to a couple months. But I can’t determine how long and successful the new approaches will be.
…..There are other companies working on alternate methods of vaccine production, but aside from Sanofi-Aventis the U.S. government did not identify the companies that responded to its request for proposal.
So there have been attempts by the government to work with the scientific community on this. And the drug companies mentioned don’t expect to make lots of profit for the reasons mentioned in the article.
Y’all can rest easy now, big S Science is not going to suffer demise and shame at the hands of those nefarious fundamentalist Christians. The world is still safe for democracy and MoM’s apple pie.
..and that is the rest of the story ( apologies to MoM, and to Paul Harvey)
PowderMed has a novel method of administering vaccines that might greatly lessen the amount of vaccine needed. They coat the surface of tiny gold droplets with the genetic material and then blast the powder into your skin. Because your skin is so immunogenic, a stronger response from a much smaller amount of genetic material is elicited than with an injected vaccine.
It reminds me of the old way they vaccinated for smallpox – by using bits of scab from prior victims.
That’s the type of thing they need to look at.
That does sound promising. Sounds so ‘Goldfinger ‘( you knew I’d say that, didn’t you?)
Two new medical innovations ( this and one that is a patented disinfecting agent) use precious metals, silver and gold. It is hopeful that the rising demand of the East doesn’t create problems with that.