Canada lagging on vaccine trials
July 23, 2009
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Joanna Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–Clinical trials in Australia are heating up the race to produce a swine flu vaccine, but a deal with a domestic manufacturer means Canada is no closer to giving anyone a shot in the arm.
Two biotechnology companies in Australia became the first in the world to begin injecting volunteers with their vaccines for the H1N1 influenza virus in separate clinical trials this week.
The U.S. government is also looking for volunteers so it can begin trials on two vaccines from manufacturers in Australia and France with the hope of beginning immunization by mid-October.
Even if all goes well with these products they cannot be used to protect Canadians from the pandemic that has so far contributed to at least 50 deaths nationwide.
That is because Ottawa signed a decade-long agreement with a pharmaceutical company in 2001 that ended up being sold to GlaxoSmithKline Inc.
The unique contract obligates the drug manufacturer to supply enough vaccine for essentially the entire population during a pandemic and GlaxoSmithKline will produce it at its plant in Ste.-Foy, Que.
Given the obvious aversion private companies have to sharing proprietary information, the deal also means that news about other countries beginning their human studies reveal next to nothing about how quickly Canadian volunteers will be recruited for testing here at home.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has made no formal announcement about trials here, but a spokesperson said yesterday the government has hope for the fall.
Toronto Star
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