How did China and Australia develop and produce swine flu vaccine months before North America and Europe? A panel of U.S. experts will try to answer this question and report on other comparative findings in a workshop at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, VA, on May 5, 2010.

Under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation and other Federal agencies, the World Technology Evaluation Center, Inc. (WTEC), commissioned the Asia/Australia phase of worldwide advances in vaccine development and production for the spring of 2010. The European and North American study of the field was completed and reported in 2007.

The findings of the Asia/Australia phase were presented at a free workshop on May 5 2010 at the National Science Foundation, Stafford II, Room 555, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA, 22230.

The expert panel was chaired by Joseph Bielitzki, DVM, University of Central Florida and included Stephen W. Drew, Ph.D., member National Academy of Engineering, Drew Solutions; Cyril Gay, DVM, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Terrance Leighton, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI); Mary Ritchie, Ph.D., Ritchie Associates, Inc.; Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., Professor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; accompanied by agency representative Narayan Iyer, Ph.D., Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS).

The panel, which also conducted the European phase of the study, reported on visits to more than 20 academic and industrial institutions and interviews with government policy makers in Japan, China, South Korea, and Australia. The panel also compared findings in vaccine development and production among these countries and Europe and North America.

The full text of the completed WTEC international reports on rapid vaccine manufacturing in Europe, and many others are available free at http://wtec.org.

Source:
Patricia Foland
World Technology Evaluation Center