March 29, 2007

 

Indonesia agrees to share bird flu samples with WHO, with conditions

 

 

Indonesia said yesterday that it would resume sending samples of avian flu virus to the World Health Organization for research purposes, provided that they would not be shared with commercial vaccine makers.

 

This would enable the WHO to continue tracking the evolution of the virus there and design vaccines against the latest strains.

 

Samples from Indonesia are viewed with great importance as the country has had more flu deaths than any other country and several variants of the H5N1 strain of bird flu circulate in the country.

 

The samples are used to create vaccine ''seed strains'' that can be spliced to other viruses to make vaccines, refine diagnostic tests and sequence the H5N1 genome. They are also used to see how infectious and lethal each strain is in animal models and which drugs the strain is susceptible to, information that can be useful to drug and vaccine companies.

 

Indonesia's latest human death toll from bird flu as of Mar 29 was at 69, the world's highest.

 

Indonesia has previously refused to share samples as it alleged that commercial vaccine makers are profiting from the manufacture of these samples without sharing the benefit of these vaccines with the country.

 

Indonesia and 17 other poor countries met with WHO officials this week, seeking assurances they would get access to vaccines if a lethal flu epidemic broke out. Although the assurance was not given, the WHO agreed not to pass their samples on to commercial manufacturers without consulting the health minister of the country that provided the sample.

 

This arrangement allows countries to seek their own deals with vaccine makers, as Indonesia did earlier this year.

 

In January, angered that vaccines made from an Indonesian strain of the virus were set at prices that most Indonesians would not be able to afford, Indonesia stopped cooperating with the WHO.

 

It later made a deal to send samples to Baxter Healthcare, an American company, in return for a low-cost vaccine and help in building vaccine factories in Indonesia.

 

Poor countries are now considering whether they should follow Indonesia's lead, a move that could negatively affect global vaccine research.

 

The WHO is eager to stress that it is not involved in financial negotiations, either in selling viruses or buying vaccine.

 

However, prominent scientists from WHO has suggested that wealthy countries set aside vaccine for poor countries or help them build their own vaccine plants.