Flu vaccine preparation and readiness in Thailand
By Jon Fernquest
Will
there soon be a vaccine or flu medicine
available to fight flu 2009?Last week's Business Focus section of the Bangkok Post featured a detailed look at preparations being made by Thailand's government to obtain a vaccine for flu 2009.
(Photo on right of the drug Oseltamivir used to fight the flu virus).
The article follows the vocabulary:
vaccines, medical vaccines - a
biological preparation given to people to improve their immunity to a
disease (See Wikipedia)
immunity to a disease - resistance and protection against a disease developed within one's own body
readiness - being prepared to deal with a problem that might happen in the future
the flu - an infectious disease caused by viruses, most common symptoms are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort, in serious cases can be fatal, particularly for the young and the elderly (See Wikipedia)
flu 2009, H1N1 flu - an outbreak of a new virus that began in Mexico and was identified in April 2009 (See Wikipedia)
Oseltamivir - an antiviral drug that blocks the influenza virus from spreading between cells in the body, used for treatment and prevention (prophylaxis) of certain kinds of flu (See Wikipedia and also see photo above)
immunity to a disease - resistance and protection against a disease developed within one's own body
readiness - being prepared to deal with a problem that might happen in the future
the flu - an infectious disease caused by viruses, most common symptoms are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort, in serious cases can be fatal, particularly for the young and the elderly (See Wikipedia)
flu 2009, H1N1 flu - an outbreak of a new virus that began in Mexico and was identified in April 2009 (See Wikipedia)
Oseltamivir - an antiviral drug that blocks the influenza virus from spreading between cells in the body, used for treatment and prevention (prophylaxis) of certain kinds of flu (See Wikipedia and also see photo above)
CRACKING THE H1N1 CODE
Spray vaccine about to go into production, but it's taken a lot of eggs to get to this stage.
Nareerat Wiriyapong and Nanchanok Wongsamuth
20/07/2009
It's generally known that medical vaccines are a weakened form of a virus used to stimulate the body's immune system to create defences against future infection.
What is less commonly known is that producing vaccines means breaking a lot of eggs.
Thailand's war against the H1N1 flu pandemic will take a big step forward next week when a pilot plant at Silpakorn University in Nakhon Pathom starts manufacturing a nasal-spray vaccine.
Fighting the global pandemic is taking global resources - producing the vaccine depends on seed viruses from Russia that are incubated in special German eggs before being transferred to Thai eggs for final production.
All told, the state-owned Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) expects to break 6,000 eggs per week as it races to produce new vaccines to protect the public against the rapidly spreading H1N1 flu.
GPO managing director Witit Artavatkun said 600,000 doses could be ready by the end of August.
Clinical trials of the vaccine will then take 120 days at the Public Health Ministry's Department of Medical Sciences and the Food and Drug Administration.
By November or December health officials hope to begin vaccinations against the H1N1 flu, with up to 2.5 million doses being produced each month.
Dr Witit said deaths from the H1N1 flu could be effectively halted once Thailand has built up enough vaccine for the population. The flu has already caused more than two dozen deaths in Thailand and afflicted thousands of others.
The GPO pilot plant has procured seed viruses for H1N1 from the Institute for Experimental Medicine in St Petersburg, Russia, a lab that has been producing seasonal flu vaccines for more than 30 years.
The GPO is responsible for production, with technical assistance from the Russian institute and Belgian advisers.
Longer-term, the GPO is moving to accelerate work on a 1.4-billion-baht vaccine plant in Saraburi, with the capacity to produce up to 10 million doses per year to guard against seasonal flu, and up to 60 million doses of nasal vaccine sprays against the H1N1 flu.
"The worst-case scenario is to see half of Thais infected with the flu and 1,200 deaths," said Dr Witit. "With the vaccine, we believe that the number of people who die of the disease will be stopped if we have sufficient supply to cover most areas of the country."
The production process will hinge on an egg-based method to produce a live, attenuated virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO), which provided 70 million baht for Thailand to develop the pandemic flu vaccine, chose to produce live attenuated viruses for their ability to produce a large amount of vaccines.
Hydrogen-free chicken eggs imported from Germany are used to incubate the virus. To date, 350 eggs have been imported for vaccine production at the pilot plant at a cost of 100,000 baht.
The German eggs will be used as growth chambers for the seed virus - embryos will be grown for nine days before being removed and reinjected into local eggs purchased from agribusiness producers such as Saha Farm and Charoen Pokphand.
There, the virus will be left to grow for another nine days. The egg is then heated for two days, before the fluid is extracted and filtered for proteins used to manufacture the vaccine. All told, the process takes about two months, starting from the first injection, with four batches of 1,500 eggs per batch processed per week.
Dr Witit said patients receiving the virus have a small chance of becoming ill, albeit not seriously. Possible side effects, according to Russian scientists, include fever and sneezing.
Thailand is among six developing countries - along with India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil - that received funds from the WHO to produce H1N1 flu vaccines.
Priority for the first vaccines will go to 500,000 to 600,000 health workers in the public and private sectors.
Due to the scarcity of the vaccine, one dose will be given to each person instead of two, said Dr Witit. Normally the second dose is to be taken within 28 days for the most effective treatment.
"Even with local production, Thailand will still have to import vaccines. Some patients will not be able to receive the live attenuated vaccine - such as those with chronic lung and heart disease and asthma," he said.
Thailand is now expecting 2 million doses of A-Type (H1N1) vaccine from the French manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) by the end of this year. The first batch of 1 million doses will arrive in December, while the second batch of another million doses will arrive in January.
According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA), five international pharmaceutical companies are involved in developing the vaccine with the WHO.
The first global production of H1N1 vaccine will be completed by September, said PReMA president Teera Chakajnarodom.
He recommended that the GPO be cautious about the safety and adequacy of the nasal-spray vaccine. The government-owned pharmaceutical company has minimal experience of vaccine production in its own capacity.
"Vaccines normally take years to develop. The process should not be rushed, in order to avoid any adverse side effects," said Mr Teera. "As well, we have to make sure the vaccine is effective. If people use it but the vaccine is not good enough to protect them from infection, the damage will be larger."
Dr Witit said the spray vaccine would be of high quality and was also critical for the health-care sector globally. The locally produced vaccine costs much less than an imported one, which would be priced 4-5.
"We are confident in the efficacy of the vaccine we are going to produce. The owner of the technology is here to instruct us," he said.
"It is necessary to have a vaccine. In the past, a lot of children had measles or chicken pox, but nowadays when everyone is vaccinated, we don't see any children falling seriously ill as in the past."
At a later stage, if Thailand has capacity to produce vaccine for local use, the WHO might suggest that the country start distributing the vaccine to neighbouring countries, said Dr Witit.
Since the outbreak erupted in late April, Thailand has had 4,469 confirmed cases of infection and 24 deaths, as of July 15, according to the latest information from the Public Health Ministry.
The GPO is also producing the anti-viral drug Oseltamivir.
The agency will pump out an extra 10 million doses of the medication on top of the planned 5.5 million by the end of next month.
It has also increased the production of GPO-brand hand-sanitising gels from 5,000 up to 20,000 bottles and from 60,000 up to 100,000 tubes as the products are selling like hotcakes, said Dr Witit.
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, CRACKING THE H1N1 CODE: Spray vaccine about to go into production, but it's taken a lot of eggs to get to this stage, Nareerat Wiriyapong and Nanchanok Wongsamuth, 20/07/2009, link)
Vocabulary:
an epidemic - a
widespread outbreak of an infectious disease (See Wikipedia)
a pandemic - an epidemic of infectious disease spreading through a large region or the whole world (See Wikipedia)
epidemic – a large number of cases of a disease happening at the same time in a particular community
pandemic – a disease that affects almost everyone in a very large area โรคที่มีการแพร่กระจายหรือระบาดไปทั่ว
global pandemic - a disease that affects everyone in the world
H1N1 flu pandemic - the process of the H1N1 flu spreading over the entire world
cracking the code - discovering the meaning of a secret code (disguised writing)
nasal-spray vaccine - a vaccine sprayed into your nose
immune system - the biological processes in an animal that protects it from disease by killing dangerous things from viruses to worms (See Wikipedia)
stimulate the body's immune system - make the body develop its own protection against disease
infection – a disease or medical condition that is caused by a bacteria or by a virus or a parasite การติดเชื้อ
pilot - a small test of a new idea or product or idea before introducing it everywhere
pilot plant - a small test factory before large-scale production
scale of Y - the size or extent of Y compared to other things
large-scale Y - Y is very large compared to other things
seed Y - Y used to start growing more and more of Y
seed viruses - viruses used to grow more and more viruses
incubate the virus - develop and grow the virus
incubated in special German eggs - German eggs were used to grow the virus
transferred to - moved to
Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) - the Thai government pharmaceutical manufacturer:
a pandemic - an epidemic of infectious disease spreading through a large region or the whole world (See Wikipedia)
epidemic – a large number of cases of a disease happening at the same time in a particular community
pandemic – a disease that affects almost everyone in a very large area โรคที่มีการแพร่กระจายหรือระบาดไปทั่ว
global pandemic - a disease that affects everyone in the world
H1N1 flu pandemic - the process of the H1N1 flu spreading over the entire world
cracking the code - discovering the meaning of a secret code (disguised writing)
nasal-spray vaccine - a vaccine sprayed into your nose
immune system - the biological processes in an animal that protects it from disease by killing dangerous things from viruses to worms (See Wikipedia)
stimulate the body's immune system - make the body develop its own protection against disease
infection – a disease or medical condition that is caused by a bacteria or by a virus or a parasite การติดเชื้อ
pilot - a small test of a new idea or product or idea before introducing it everywhere
pilot plant - a small test factory before large-scale production
scale of Y - the size or extent of Y compared to other things
large-scale Y - Y is very large compared to other things
seed Y - Y used to start growing more and more of Y
seed viruses - viruses used to grow more and more viruses
incubate the virus - develop and grow the virus
incubated in special German eggs - German eggs were used to grow the virus
transferred to - moved to
Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) - the Thai government pharmaceutical manufacturer:
"The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) is a State enterprise under the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. For 40 years, we have been serving the Thai Public Health with intended mission to manufacture wide range of pharmaceutical, biological, and natural products for domestic [use]...We currently are producing over 200 products including HIV/AIDS drugs and herbal cosmetics in strict adherence to good manufacturing practice and fair prices." (See website and profile)
dose
– an amount of drug that has been measured so that you can take it
ปริมาณยาที่ให้ต่อครั้ง
clinical – involving working with people who are ill
clinical trials - testing a drug before using it widely to treat patients
afflicted - affected badly and suffering from disease, pain, or disaster
procured - get something (that is difficult to get)
seasonal flu - the flu that many people usually get during certain times of the year (See Wikipedia)
accelerate work on - increase the speed at which work is being done on a project
worst-case scenario - the worst situation that could happen in the future
X hinges on Y - X depends on Y
attenuated - reduced and weakened
attenuated virus - a weakened virus
clinical – involving working with people who are ill
clinical trials - testing a drug before using it widely to treat patients
afflicted - affected badly and suffering from disease, pain, or disaster
procured - get something (that is difficult to get)
seasonal flu - the flu that many people usually get during certain times of the year (See Wikipedia)
accelerate work on - increase the speed at which work is being done on a project
worst-case scenario - the worst situation that could happen in the future
X hinges on Y - X depends on Y
attenuated - reduced and weakened
attenuated virus - a weakened virus
World
Health Organisation (WHO) - the agency of the United Nations
devoted to international public health (See Wikipedia)
growth chambers - hollow places to
grow something in
agribusiness - an agricultural and farming related business
fluid - a liquid
fluid is extracted - liquid is taken out
filter - pass through a device to remove impurities or some other substance
filtered for proteins - pass through a device to remove proteins
All told,.... - including everything, ....
batches - a group of things of the same kind
X albeit Y - X although Y (Y reduces force or importance of X)
side effects - something unplanned and unpleasant that happens in addition to the main desired effect
Priority will go to Y - Y will be treated as most important
scarcity - not enough of something for the people who need it, shortage
chronic - happens over a long time
acute - happens suddenly
asthma - a long-term condition in which the lungs become inflammed and breathing difficult (See Wikipedia)
inflammed - swollen, when a part of your body becomes bigger from injury or disease
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA) - the organisation representing drug companies in Thailand
adequacy - good enough to get the job done
process should not be rushed - should work carefully and not too quickly
critical for - important for
measles - highly contagious respiratory disease with cough, runny nose, red eyes and a rash (See Wikipedia)
a contagious disease - a disease that is easy to catch by touching people or things infected with the disease
X infects Y - X causes Y to have a disease
X infected with disease - X received the disease somehow, now has the disease
an infectious disease - a disease that can be caught by being near a person who has the disease
rash - when skin changes colour, appearance, and texture, usually becoming red (See Wikipedia)
respiratory, respiratory system - the lungs and the air passages from the mouth to the lungs (See Wikipedia)
chicken pox - a highly contagious viral disease, starts with a skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw small open sores (See Wikipedia)
capacity to produce - ability to produce
the outbreak erupted - people started catching the disease suddenly
confirmed cases - people with the disease (who were checked to see if they really had the disease)
pump out - produce
sanitise - clean completely (remove germs and bacteria)
hand-sanitising gels, hand sanitizer, hand antiseptic - a way to clean hands that doesn't require water and a visit to the bathroom, more effective at killing germs than soaps and do not dry out hands as much as soaps (See Wikipedia and science article)
selling like hotcakes - selling in large quantities (very popular)
agribusiness - an agricultural and farming related business
fluid - a liquid
fluid is extracted - liquid is taken out
filter - pass through a device to remove impurities or some other substance
filtered for proteins - pass through a device to remove proteins
All told,.... - including everything, ....
batches - a group of things of the same kind
X albeit Y - X although Y (Y reduces force or importance of X)
side effects - something unplanned and unpleasant that happens in addition to the main desired effect
Priority will go to Y - Y will be treated as most important
scarcity - not enough of something for the people who need it, shortage
chronic - happens over a long time
acute - happens suddenly
asthma - a long-term condition in which the lungs become inflammed and breathing difficult (See Wikipedia)
inflammed - swollen, when a part of your body becomes bigger from injury or disease
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA) - the organisation representing drug companies in Thailand
adequacy - good enough to get the job done
process should not be rushed - should work carefully and not too quickly
critical for - important for
measles - highly contagious respiratory disease with cough, runny nose, red eyes and a rash (See Wikipedia)
a contagious disease - a disease that is easy to catch by touching people or things infected with the disease
X infects Y - X causes Y to have a disease
X infected with disease - X received the disease somehow, now has the disease
an infectious disease - a disease that can be caught by being near a person who has the disease
rash - when skin changes colour, appearance, and texture, usually becoming red (See Wikipedia)
respiratory, respiratory system - the lungs and the air passages from the mouth to the lungs (See Wikipedia)
chicken pox - a highly contagious viral disease, starts with a skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw small open sores (See Wikipedia)
capacity to produce - ability to produce
the outbreak erupted - people started catching the disease suddenly
confirmed cases - people with the disease (who were checked to see if they really had the disease)
pump out - produce
sanitise - clean completely (remove germs and bacteria)
hand-sanitising gels, hand sanitizer, hand antiseptic - a way to clean hands that doesn't require water and a visit to the bathroom, more effective at killing germs than soaps and do not dry out hands as much as soaps (See Wikipedia and science article)
selling like hotcakes - selling in large quantities (very popular)
