Posted on 10/17/2004 12:24:49 PM PDT by neverdem
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals doesn't make flu shots anymore, and it doesn't miss them one bit.
For two decades, Wyeth made injectable influenza vaccine at a plant in Marietta, Pa. For the winter of 2002-03, it made 21 million doses in a labor-intensive, time-crunched process and shipped them to clinics and doctors' offices early in the fall.
But it turned out a lot fewer people wanted it. Flu vaccine can't be saved from year to year. So, sometime the next spring Wyeth threw away 7 million unsold doses, for a loss of $30 million. It then quit making flu shots. It eventually closed the Marietta plant, which once employed 800 people.
But Wyeth wasn't out of the flu vaccine business -- yet.
It was a partner with the Maryland biotech company, MedImmune, in making what they considered the flu shot of the future -- a "live" virus vaccine squirted up the nose. They made 5 million doses of FluMist for last winter, the product's inaugural season. But FluMist never found its market. Only 450,000 doses were sold; the rest were thrown away.
Last April, Wyeth pulled out. It was done with flu vaccine.
Wyeth's decisions go a long way toward explaining why the United States -- the world's richest market for medical products -- finds itself with only half the amount of vaccine it needs to protect its population against a disease that may contribute to more than 50,000 deaths this year.
The company's exit is part of a long, slow industry-wide flight away from flu vaccine, which has simply become more trouble than it's worth.
"It shouldn't be surprising to anybody," said Gregory A. Poland, director of the vaccine research group at the Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota. "In fact, I marvel that there are companies willing to stay in the business."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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For those who have read it, is there any mention of lawyers driving vaccine-makers out of business?
Also, the Pharmaceutical in England is America owned. Not owned by the Brits. It's our own company that is based in England.
No - the article explains the drivers as a commodity business that yields low profits, unpredictable demand that results in many leftover doses each year, and the cost of bringing manufacturing facilities into compliance with FDA mandates.
For those who have read it, is there any mention of lawyers driving vaccine-makers out of business?
None.
Tell that to the places I go. I'm under 25 and nobody will sell me a vaccine.
why do you need one? are you in a weakened health condition?
Well, they are probably wanting to give the flu shot to the elderly and the immune defective first. Don't lose hope. Watch for local health departments to announce their dates and also supermarkets will have flu shot clinics.
I know if my Doctor here doesn't get the vaccine, I can go to the Health Clinic in town on the 19th of November. I hate waiting that long, but at least I have another option, in case my Doctor doesn't get the vaccine.
No, not mention.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/12/13/140235.shtml
Hillary's Flu Vaccine Crisis
Newspapers are awash this week with headlines warning that the U.S. is running out of flu vaccine just as the crisis reaches near-epidemic levels, with 11 children dead so far.
Perhaps reporters ought to ask New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, since one of the few health care reforms she managed to inflict on the nation during her co-presidency has now backfired by driving most of America's flu vaccine producers out of business.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal this week, "The reason for today's shortage - as well as seven previous preventive vaccine shortages since 2000 - is that there are just five vaccine makers.
"This lack of suppliers is partly thanks to Hillary Clinton, who as first lady turned government into the majority buyer of vaccines and pushed prices so low as to make business unsustainable."
Last summer the Journal noted that the problem goes back to 1993, when Mrs. Clinton's "Vaccines for Children Program" was first implemented.
Hillary's vaccine crusade was being pushed by her Children's Defense Fund mentor Marian Wright Edelman - even though U.S. child vaccination rates at the time were considered relatively high by medical experts.
But that didn't stop Sen. Clinton and her "reformers." She pressured Congress to back the disastrous plan in a bid to make vaccines more available to poor, uninsured and underinsured children. In the process she turned the government into the major purchaser and distributor of vaccines.
Oops! Unfortunately for the familles of the 11 children killed by the disease so far, things didn't quite work out the way Hillary had planned.
As noted by the Kansas City Star this week, the decision to force vaccine makers to discount their price resulted in "declining financial incentives to develop and produce vaccines."
What's more, the vaccination rate "barely budged" after the Hillary-Edelman brainchild was implemented.
Hillary's "reform" did, however, manage to leave the nation thoroughly unprepared to handle the current flu crisis.
I'm a month away from 49 and I've never gotten a flu shot.
Just let three people die of diagnosed flu and
Kerry et al. will be scaring those already borderline
nervous into their graves!
I don't believe the "flu" has started spreading yet - but that's OK, Kerry can substitute some people who die of pneumonia, and claim they died of the flu. The DNC is probably scanning hospital death records right now.
I suspect, through I'm not certain, that Chiron felt the regulatory environment there was more conducive to vaccine manufacturing. Another good possibility is the tax structure.
The demand is not there.
I'm betting the MSM is pushing this "crisis" designed to scare the elderly and blame Bush.
Chiron purchased an existing operation in England.
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