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vaccine against bird flu from Beijing-based pharmaceutical company
Sinovac Biotech is seen in this undated photo.
(AFP) |
China has begun human trials of its
homegrown bird flu vaccine with six volunteers receiving
shots, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
A total of 120 people, aged from 18 to 60 and all from Beijing and in
good health, had volunteered to take part in the trials, Xinhua said.
"After half an hour of clinical observation, the volunteers experienced
no bad reaction of either the whole or part of the body," the agency said.
Though the trials will need nine months of tests, initial results are
expected within the first three, it added.
The head of the company researching the vaccine, Sinovac Biotech, told
Reuters last month that it was at least a year away from hitting the
shelves.
Development of the vaccine -- called Panflu -- started last year after
bird flu outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam and animal trials have already
been completed.
Experts say experimental vaccines for bird flu are unlikely to be a
good match for an H5N1 strain that may eventually emerge in transmissible
form among humans.
Using current technology it takes six months or more to make a new flu
vaccine and there is no way to predict what a pandemic strain might look
like.
Currently, Roche Pharmaceuticals' Tamiflu is one of four drugs known to
work against influenza. It does not cure the virus but can reduce the
severity of infection and in some cases prevent infection.
Doctors believe it may help control a pandemic of
H5N1, although evidence suggests it may be less effective than it is against
seasonal influenza.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-12-22 15:47
