Novartis Lands HHS Contract For Vaccines

The Department of Health & Human Services has awarded Novartis a $486 million contract to build the first U.S. facility for cell-based influenza vaccine. The facility, which will be located in Holly Springs, N.C., is intended to provide a prepandemic supply of influenza vaccine and produce 150 million doses of pandemic vaccine within six months of the declaration of a flu pandemic. Novartis' cell-culture vaccine production will provide an alternative to egg-based production of vaccine, which is at risk in the instance of avian influenza because the avian flu virus kills both chickens and their eggs.