May 2, 2008

US accepts Sanofi Pasteur H5N1 bulk vaccine antigen
 

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, has announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has accepted H5N1 bulk vaccine antigen to produce approximately 38.5 million doses of vaccine to protect against a new strain of bird flu.

Sanofi Pasteur has a multi-year contract with HHS as part of its pandemic program, and will receive a payment of US$192.5 million booked in the second quarter of 2008 for acceptance of the bulk vaccine lot.

This acceptance represents the US government's latest effort to diversify the vaccine stockpile program to include new strains of the H5N1 virus. The antigen lot accepted will protect against a clade 2.2 strain of H5N1 virus that is particularly troubling because it is the first to be identified in an outbreak of migratory birds, which have the potential to spread the virus across continents. This strain of bird flu H5N1 virus is the strain that currently predominates in birds of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

About Sanofi-aventis

Sanofi-aventis is a leading global pharmaceutical company. Sanofi Pasteur provided is a world leader in the vaccine industry, offering vaccines that protect against 20 infectious diseases. The company also invests more than EUR 1 million (US$1.5 million) in research and development every day.