Switzerland gives green light to new A/H1N1 influenza vaccine

The Swiss authorities on Friday authorized a new vaccine against the A/H1N1 influenza which is made using cell cultures instead of the traditional egg-based methods.

The vaccine, named Celtura, is made by Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis, which is based in Basel. It uses validated cell culture line for production of viral antigen components rather than traditional chicken eggs.

On the basis of clinical data available, Celtura has been permitted for children above the age of three and for adults of all age groups, the official Swissinfo.ch news website quoted a federal authorities statement as saying.

But the data have shown that for adults over the age of 40, sufficient immunization is only reached after a second vaccination of the drug, which has to be done three weeks after the first, according to the statement.

The Swiss authorities had already authorized two H1N1 flu vaccines, Focetria and Pandemrix, in October. Both are made using traditional egg-based methods.

Noovartis had said that its modern cell culture technology "enable a faster start-up of vaccine manufacturing, offering the ability to respond more quickly to pandemic threats."

The new vaccine had already got approval in Germany earlier this month.

Source: Xinhua