Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) yesterday lauded Adimmune Corp’s A(H1N1) influenza vaccine, but said the results of trials were still being reviewed.
Adimmune’s vaccine will be as good as Novartis’, Yaung told Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) during a meeting of the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
“Once the review is complete, we will make it public, probably in another two days or so,” Yaung said.
Accompanied by Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲), Yaung said results from human trials were being reviewed by the bureau.
“Adimmune submitted its report to the board this morning. Board members will submit the evaluation report to the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] on Thursday night,” Kang said. “The complete evaluation report on Adimmune’s vaccine will be made public when the vaccine becomes available to the public in mid-November.”
Adimmune chief managing director Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉) said that the trials were “successful, as was expected.”
“This will be a vaccine that we can count on,” Ho said.
In related news, the CDC yesterday announced the nation’s 25th death from swine flu.
The victim was a 54-year-old man with liver and kidney problems in Keelung.
Another seven H1N1-related hospitalizations were also reported yesterday, bringing the total to 395, of which 25 patients are still in hospital.
The CDC said the seven patients, all from the Taipei area, were: a seven-month-old boy, a three-year-old boy, a six-year-old boy, a seven-year-old girl, a 24-year-old man, a 32-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman.
A total of 639 classes at 367 elementary, junior high and senior high schools have been canceled because of cluster infections.
Department of Physical Education Director-General Wang Chun-chuan (王俊權) said a record number of class closures on Tuesday might be a sign that the outbreak is escalating again after a lull late last month.
The CDC recently said that a second wave of the H1N1 outbreak is emerging and is likely to peak next month after the previous wave peaked early last month.
In an effort to contain the spread, the DOH is scheduled to start a free inoculation program on Nov. 1 that targets groups considered at high risk of developing serious complications from the flu strain.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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