Sunday, August 16, 2009

Thailand may postpone H1N1 vaccine trials



BANGKOK, Aug 16 (TNA) – Thailand may postpone its trials of the vaccine against the Influenza Type A (H1N1) virus for another two months if the amount of H1N1 virus in eggs is below standard, Dr Vichai Chokevivat, chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) board said Sunday.

The calculation of the amount of virus in eggs imported from Germany will be known Monday, he said.

Three possible factors which may contribute to the low volume of the virus can be related to the qualities of the eggs used to grow the virus and can vary according to air pressure, virus strain, or technical production factors, he said.

Further evaluation is needed to find the cause of the problem, he added.

However, he said information exchange with other countries, which have also undertaken vaccine trials, found that they also faced the same problem, he said.

Thailand earlier planned to begin human trials of vaccines against the swine flu on September 6, following successful trials on laboratory animals in the Netherlands. (TNA)

hattip Alaska Denise

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