Vietnam is hoping to prevent bird flu in humans following good results from the first tests of made-in-Vietnam H5N1 influenza vaccine.
The vaccine, produced by the Health Ministry’s Vaccine and Bio-technology Products Company No. 1 (VABIOTECH), has been tested on a group of 30 students from the Military Medical Institute.
The students are reportedly in good health and waiting for a second shot on May 17, scheduled for 28 days after the first shot.
VABIOTECH Director Professor Nguyen Thu Van said Vietnam is among a few countries successful in producing H5N1 vaccines, currently in human testing stages and not yet to have received licences.
Vietnam has developed the vaccine using monkey kidney cells which, Van says, are more productive, cheaper and safer than a vaccine using the culture on embryonic chicken eggs as is currently being developed by other countries.
Vietnam has received support from international experts and Tokyo University of Japan, the country leading in researching the vaccine production, to ensure safety during the project.
VABIOTECH commenced its study in 2004 as avian flu began to spread throughout Vietnam . After the successful tests on animals in 2007, the company was permitted to conduct human tests in 2008.
In March and April, the vaccine was tested on 10 volunteers who had involved directly in the vaccine production project and now, on another 30 people. Further tests will be conducted on 300 medical students within the next 8 months.
VABIOTECH hopes to introduce its product under the label Fluvax in late 2009, at a price of 1.87 USD (30,000 VND) per dose, creating immunity for one year from injection.
The Nha Trang Vaccine and Bio-technology Institute has also been undertaking research on a H5N1 vaccine production from eggs, which will soon be tested on humans.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the H5N1 type A bird flu has been spreading throughout the world since 1997. The total number of people infected with the H5N1 virus by April this year was 379 people, with total fatalities at 239.
In Vietnam , the first case was found in December 2003 and so far 106 people have been infected, including 52 deaths.
Source: VietNamNet Bridge
