Sanofi will donate H1N1 vaccine

    PA plant will be a major source of the global supply of pandemic flu vaccine.

    Sanofi Aventis, which has its North American vaccine plant in Swiftwater, PA, says it will donate 100 million doses of H1N1 influenza vaccine to the World Health Organization, once the shot is developed. The company can accommodate additional vaccine production for this new strain of the virus, while continuing to make seasonal flu shots, because of its new plant that went online this year. (Photo: CDC)

    Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline, and MedImmune are among the handful of other companies developing a vaccine against the H1N1 pandemic flu. Novartis announced last week that it successfully produced the first batch of vaccine. The shot still needs to go through testing, approval, and mass production before it will be available. Companies expect vaccines to be ready by the fall.

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