April 1, 2008

Russian company to produce bird flu vaccines in South-East Asia

A leading Russian vaccine company has announced it is ready to cooperate with Southeast Asia in producing bird flu vaccines.

Mikrogen Corporation Deputy Director General Alexei Kupriyanov says his company has 14 subsidiaries producing bird flu vaccines across Russia and is the country's leader in the area, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.

The Moscow-based company produces about 40 million doses of flu vaccine per season.

Mikrogen's head of research and development Igor Krasilnikov told Ria Novosti news agency the company had already signed an agreement with the World Health Organisation to move production to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, which has had multiple bird flu cases.

Two vaccines were developed by the company; one is being registered and the other is currently being tested, Krasilnikov said,

One of the two is a live vaccine, which could be especially effective in the region.

The company announcement was made at the Sixth International Bird Flu Summit in Bali, held from March 27-28. The summit aims to gather the world's leading specialists to discuss the fight against bird flu.