On the heels of similar deals in the U.S. and the EU, the U.K. is filling up its coffers with doses of bird flu immunizations from Australia’s CSL Seqirus.
To prepare for a potential future pandemic, the U.K. has inked an accord with CSL Seqirus to acquire more than 5 million doses of the company’s H5 influenza shot, the British government said in a release Tuesday.
The shipment will help with a potential disease outbreak—should the virus spread to humans—as drugmakers work to develop a bespoke vaccine for bird flu, the U.K. government explained. The doses in question will be manufactured by CSL Seqirus' U.K. branch.
“It is important for us to be prepared against a range of different influenza viruses that may pose human health risks,” Meera Chand, emerging infection lead at the U.K. Health Security Agency, said in a statement. “Adding H5 vaccines to the interventions already available to us will help us to be ready for a wider range of threats.”
The latest vaccine grab in the U.K. follows several similar moves in the U.S. and the EU.
Back in early June, the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority called on CSL Seqirus to supply 665,000 doses of its pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine for 15 separate European countries. The deal covers a four-year contract under which authorities can buy up to 40 million more doses from CSL Seqirus if they so choose.
Prior to that deal, CSL Seqirus in late September lined up a contract with the U.S.’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to beef up local supplies of the drugmaker’s MF59 adjuvant, which is used in certain influenza shots to bolster the body’s immune response. That award from BARDA totaled out to roughly $121 million.
More recently, BARDA enlisted CSL Seqirus, Sanofi and GSK for a collective $72 million deal to fill and finish additional doses of their H5 vaccines, turning bulk materials into ready-to-use vials or syringes that can be deployed promptly, if needed.
Under the latest U.S. accord with BARDA, the triad of companies will also make additional bulk antigens that match the circulating bird flu strains. Plus, Sanofi, in an ongoing partnership with BARDA, will preserve a continuous supply of domestic eggs to help make more doses of flu vaccines, should they be needed, according to the agency.
As of Dec. 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had logged 57 reported human cases of the virus in the U.S.