relenza is cheap insurance, page-14

csl trial results released tommorow Bird flu trial results due for release
Source: MELBOURNE, Feb 16 AAP
Published: February 16 2006, 8:05PM

Early results of an Australian bird flu vaccine trial will be released tomorrow.

Melbourne-based pharmaceutical manufacturer CSL will make public preliminary results of a clinical trial for a prototype pandemic vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 avian influenza strain.

CSL began testing the vaccine on the first of 400 Australian volunteers in October last year to determine its safety and effectiveness.

The company has previously said that once a vaccine was developed and approved it would take between three and six months to manufacture enough to inoculate every Australian against pandemic bird flu.

A landmark study by Australian experts released today predicted up to 30 per cent of Australians could catch the deadly virus if there was a serious global outbreak this year.

The report forecast that one per cent of the population, or 214,000 people, could die, along with 2.2 per cent of humanity - or 142 million people.