FluMist ramps up fast

If pandemic H1N1 influenza hits the U.S. hard this fall, the nation's first line of defense could be a live attenuated influenza vaccine based on FluMist manufactured by the MedImmune Inc. subsidiary of AstraZeneca plc.

MedImmune, FDA and HHS are working on plans that could allow the company to supply 42 million doses of pandemic H1N1 vaccine in September, at least a month and possibly two months before comparable quantities of inactivated vaccine are available in the U.S., EVP of operations Ben Machielse told BioCentury. By year end, 179 million doses of the intranasal vaccine could be available...