Preliminary trials of a vaccine against the H5N1 strain of bird flu showed encouraging results, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis said Thursday.

"Preliminary results of clinical trials ... demonstrated a good immune response in a signficant number of volunteers,"

Sanofi-Aventis, which developed the vaccine, said in a statement.

"Preliminary results showed that the vaccine is safe and well-tolerated in 300 healthy volunteers," said the statement.

Sanofi-Aventis has a contract with France's health ministry to produce 1.4 million doses of the prototype vaccine before the end of the year.

Source: Xinhua