by nomo » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:08 pm
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/healthfluhungary">news.yahoo.com/s/afp/healthfluhungary</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Hungarian researchers find H5N1 bird flu vaccine for humans: PM<br><br>Tue Mar 14, 12:09 PM ET<br><br>BUDAPEST (AFP) - Hungarian researchers have devised a vaccine for humans against the current form of the H5N1 bird flu virus, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said.<br><br>This vaccine was developed by the Hungarian company Omnivest and has been approved by the country's pharmaceutical authorities, he told a press conference at the firm's laboratories at Bilsborosjeno, near Budapest.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The vaccine however only works on the current form of the H5N1 virus and is not intended as a shield against a feared mutated form.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Showing journalists a vial of the vaccine, Gyurcsany said it "contains six micrograms (of an active agent), enough for one person to be immunised against the H5N1 virus."<br><br>"This is a product manufactured from an aluminium and phosphate viral gel, of which nobody else at the moment has the (production) technology" he added.<br><br>The vaccine would be used to protect people working in close proximity to diseased birds.<br><br>"If the virus were to mutate, we would not have to experiment with new technology but would be able to manufacture a real vaccine within eight weeks," Gyurcsany said Tuesday.<br><br>"What is even more important, our national pharmaceutical institute (OGYI) has given us the green light to commercialise" the vaccine in Hungary, he said.<br><br>In its present form, H5N1 is transmissible amongst birds, and humans can catch it if they are close to fowl which carry the virus.<br><br>But it cannot be transmitted from human to human. The fear is that the virus may acquire the genes to do this, triggering a global pandemic.<br><br>Hungarian researchers have been working for six month to manufacture a vaccine against the current form of H5N1. In October, Hungarian Health Minister Jeno Racz said a prototype vaccine being developed in Hungary for use against the deadly Asian strain of bird flu had produced positive results on humans.<br><br>"Clinical trials gave positive results, the blood of the (human) guinea-pigs produced antibodies," Racz then said.<br><br>Developing a prototype vaccine is a necessary step towards rapidly manufacturing a real vaccine against the potentially deadly H5N1 virus, in the event it mutates to a form that can be transmitted from human to human, thus causing a possible pandemic.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>At the time, French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis, also developing a bird flu vaccine, claimed the Hungarian prototype "did not meet standards" of the European Medicines Agency and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>would only be valid in Hungary.</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>In 1993, Hungary signed a contract with Omnivest to manufacture vaccines in large quantities.<br><br>The Hungarian prototype has been in development since late September, based on a strain of the H5N1 virus which appeared in Hong Kong in 1997 and which the World Health Organisation found in a human in southeast Asia at the start of 2005.<br><br>Hungary, which joined the European Union in May 2004, has a long tradition of medical achievements. In 2004, exports of pharmaceutical products increased by 39 percent compared to 2003, according to official figures. <p></p><i></i>
