At least 11 cases of swine flu in U.S. as official fear ‘pandemic’
Daily Herald - Chicago
4/25/2009 9:23 PM
[excerpted]
“New York Gov. David Paterson on Saturday directed the state Department of Health to mobilize its infectious-diseases, epidemiology and disaster preparedness workers to monitor and respond to possible cases of the flu. He said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York City. “
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=289233
I finally found a link to Baxter making the vaccine. This article has the most up to date news from this morning as well. Check link
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Vaccine makers are taking the initial steps toward making shots against swine flu. Baxter International Inc., a maker of both seasonal and pandemic vaccines, has requested samples of the swine virus for laboratory testing, said Christopher Bona, a spokesman for Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter. GlaxoSmithKline Plc, based in London, has had conversations with WHO’s flu division that’s responsible for distributing flu virus samples to drugmakers, said Deborah Alspach, a spokeswoman.
Other companies that make flu vaccine include Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, and Sanofi-Aventis SA, of Paris.
Roche’s Tamiflu
Roche Holding AG, of Basel, has an ample supply of Tamiflu, which can reduce the symptoms of swine flu. Roche has donated a “Rapid Response Stockpile” of 5 million treatment courses to the WHO that’s on 24-hour stand-by to be sent around the world, said Terence Hurley, a spokesman for the company. No request has been made to deploy the stockpile, he said in an email.
Glaxo also has ample supplies of its inhaled Relenza antiviral, which also appears to be effective against the swine flu in CDC tests, Alspach said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avEHg48g1qUg&refer=worldwide