50 Million Fluzone Doses for US

February 2, 2006

type=health & storyID=nN01264255

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile,

Research) on Wednesday said it plans to produce about 50 million

doses of its Fluzone vaccine for U.S. distribution by the end of

October after experiencing what it called unprecedented demand.

Sanofi's vaccine producing unit, Sanofi Pasteur Inc., said it fielded

a record number of calls on Tuesday, when it began taking pre-orders

for its vaccine for the 2006-2007 influenza season.

It said it had already committed all influenza vaccine doses planned

for production for the next season except for its no preservative

Fluzone vaccine in pediatric doses.

However, Sanofi said additional doses could be produced for delivery

in November or December based on customer needs and production

yields. Customers willing to accept later delivery will have the

option to cancel their request if they are able to obtain earlier

delivery from another supplier, Sanofi said.

The company said it received more than 200,000 customer calls in the

first eight hours of accepting orders for next season's flu vaccine.

That compares with about 1,500 calls per day under normal conditions.

Sanofi said it believes there will be an adequate supply of vaccine

to meet U.S. needs for the 2006-2007 season with the additional doses

from other vaccine producers.

The company said it has begun construction of a new manufacturing

facility that will double its capacity to produce flu vaccine for

both routine influenza immunization and in case of an influenza

pandemic. The new facility is expected to come online for the 2008-

2009 flu season, Sanofi said.

Fears that a deadly strain of avian flu could mutate into a form that

easily infects people has caused a surge in worldwide demand for flu

treatments and vaccines.

There have so far been 85 confirmed human deaths from the H5N1 form

of bird flu -- 81 of them in Asia and four in Turkey.

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