from street.com (why don't they outsource some of this vaccine production to vical...
"..Flu bugs are having a field day with Chiron (CHIR:Nasdaq - news - research).
The Emeryville, Calif., biotech firm got stung this past week with another vaccine-making screwup. Chiron discovered that some of its Begrivac flu vaccine, which is made in Germany and sold overseas, was contaminated. The company slashed planned Begrivac shipments for next flu season by at least two-thirds, to 4 million doses or fewer.
Of course, Chiron has spent nine months trying to recover from an even bigger debacle. Shares plunged last October after regulators shuttered Chiron's Fluvirin plant in Liverpool, England, over a failed safety inspection. The move forced the company to write off its entire inventory of Fluvirin and halved the U.S. flu vaccine supply. The company has since cut back Fluvirin sales projections, and only now is the Food and Drug Administration inspecting the Liverpool plant to certify manufacturing practices there.
Chiron denies there's any link between the U.K. and German manufacturing problems. What's more, despite admitting it will record no sales of Begrivac during the third quarter, Chiron maintained full-year earnings guidance.
How does that work? Well, Chiron says it's moving to "mitigate" the impact of the reduced Begrivac supply on patients in the U.K. and Germany "by reallocating non-U.S. vaccine doses among affected markets."
If that sounds slightly ominous and conjures up visions of a big company shifting vaccine supplies around solely for the sake of its bottom line, think again, a spokesman urges. Emphasizing that "we have not made any decisions," the Chiron rep says the company is considering increasing production at other plants to make up for lost doses, as well as switching doses from non-European countries to make up the supply in the U.K. and Germany.
"Our position is that we are not going to reallocate flu doses away from countries and leave them in the lurch," the spokesman says. He adds that Chiron is determined to "do it in a responsible manner" that won't "leave any countries short."
That sounds nice, but we'll see how it works out...." |
