EMEA ready to play its part in pandemic vaccine on WHO's recommendation

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is ready to help develop and assess any pandemic vaccine but stressed it is the World Health Organization (WHO) which will decide if, and when, such a move is appropriate.

EMEA said there are six centrally approved marketing authorisations for vaccines with four of them able to be modified rapidly to incorporate a new pandemic strain.

However, before any process to manufacture a flu vaccine starts it would have to be recommended by the WHO and may take four to six months before initial doses of vaccine were available.

Any move to develop a pandemic vaccine could severely reduce the availability of season flu vaccine.

Once vaccines were available, procuring them and using them would be an issue for individual EU member states, the agency added.

EMEA has been preparing for a pandemic scenario since 2004 and, working closely with its partners in the European Union has established a scientific and regulatory framework that can accommodate a range of different vaccine approval strategies.

Until a vaccine becomes available, antiviral medicines can be used for the treatment of pandemic influenza cases. Neuraminidase inhibitors Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza (zanamivir) have shown effectiveness.