The Austrian Ministry of Health has entered into a preparedness contract with Baxter Healthcare SA, a subsidiary of Baxter International, for an option to purchase 16 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccine. The three-year agreement provides the Austrian MOH with future access to the company’s cell-based vaccine production capacity in the event of an avian flu pandemic.

“We are proud to provide the advanced science and technology, manufacturing capability and other resources to assist the Austrian Ministry of Health in its efforts to protect citizens from the threat of a flu pandemic,” said Joy Amundson, corporate vice president and president of Baxter’s BioScience business.

Baxter is also under contract to supply two million doses of H5N1 vaccine to the UK Government. The company is also working with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a cell culture-based H5N1 candidate pandemic influenza vaccine.

Baxter’s preliminary results of a Phase I/II trial in 270 adults with its inactivated wild-type H5N1 pandemic vaccine suggested that the vaccine is well tolerated in humans. Results also suggest that the vaccine is highly immunogenic and elicits functional antibodies to H5N1 even at the lowest dose level. These preliminary data, which must be confirmed in a larger study, suggest that the vaccine may provide wider protection for a larger number of people before and during a pandemic.