RAK company clinches swine flu vaccine deal

A UAE-based pharmaceutical company strikes an exclusive deal to provide the Middle East and North Africa with a swine flu vaccine.

Officials scan incoming passengers at Abu Dhabi airport with an infrared device to detect fever associated with swine flu.

A UAE-based pharmaceutical company has struck an exclusive deal to provide the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) with a swine flu vaccine. Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar), based in Ras al Khaimah, signed an agreement with Beijing-based Hualan Biological Bacterin Co Ltd, the first company in the world to enter clinical trials for the Pandemic H1N1 Influenza single- shot vaccine.

The deal followed talks between Julphar and health authorities from across the Mena, and negotiations in the Chinese capital involving Julphar and Hualan, the state news agency, WAM, reported. According to the agreement, Hualan, which has already provided the market with quantities of the H1N1 vaccine, must provide enough doses to meet the region's needs. No one at either company was available for comment yesterday.

However, on the Julphar website, Dr Ayman Sahli, its general manager, said: "Julphar is very glad to be able to bring this vaccine to Mena and we are confident that we can fulfil orders in a timely manner. "We chose Hualan as our partner because they offer the most credible and best possible option in the market for a product of the highest quality that can be readily available to fulfil the needs of the whole region."

Hualan obtained viral seed particles of the H1N1 virus from the World Health Organisation in June and completed its study in July. In May, the National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority said the UAE had only enough vaccine to treat 17 per cent of the population. Six people have died from swine flu in the UAE. Two were women in the late stages of pregnancy. Police officers in Abu Dhabi had been told that the vaccine would be available in the UAE from the middle of next month, the Ministry of Interior said.

The announcement came in a lecture by Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, a specialist in aviation and internal medicine, on how to prevent the spread of the virus. It would make the UAE the second country in the world to have an immunisation programme in operation, according to Julphar. In July, the Ministry of Health said more than 600,000 schoolchildren would be immunised against swine flu once a vaccine was ready.

Vaccination will be mandatory for all public and private school pupils aged five and above. The British School-Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi has had two pupils, aged nine and 10, test positive for swine flu. The New Filipino Private School in Sharjah was shut as a precaution this month after some students fell ill with flu, although no one was found to have H1N1. Al Salam Private School and Nursery in Dubai delayed its opening owing to concerns over swine flu.

Some schools have reported a 40 per cent drop in attendance as worried parents are keeping their children away. Eight different posters raising awareness about swine flu will go up in schools and kindergartens, WAM reported yesterday. Across the country, there has been heavy buying of the drug Tamiflu over the internet. But experts at a symposium on swine flu and pharmaceutical ethics, held at Ajman University of Science and Technology last week, said there was a good chance that any medication bought from unregulated websites would be counterfeit.

Fake medicines might contain any number of compounds, including toxins, the meeting was told. The Ministry of Health is expected this week to ban private hospitals from performing tests for swine flu. Dr Amin al Amiri, the chief executive for medical practices and licensing, said the ministry would "issue the circular very soon telling the private hospitals not to do the tests, and what would happen if they did".

A source at the National Committee to Combat Swine Flu said some hospitals were carrying out tests "to make money", and added: "This will be stopped." Last week The National revealed that hospitals in the capital were charging up to Dh1,000 (US$270) for swine flu tests, despite international health organisations saying that most people did not need them. Gulf countries appear to be managing the spread of H1N1 in varying degrees.

In Bahrain, two wards in a state-run hospital in Manama have been closed after three patients, who were being treated for other conditions, contracted the virus. There have already been three deaths in the country and two patients are said to be critically ill from H1N1. Eighteen people have died of swine flu in Oman. Government health workers have been told they cannot take annual leave over the Eid holiday as state hospitals work around the clock. At least one health centre will remain open.

As the number of cases rose to 274 in Jordan last week, a religious edict was issued by the fatwa department urging Muslims to avoid kissing each other. Kuwait has registered 287 new cases of the virus in the past week, bringing the number of patients to 2,444. The country has recorded seven deaths. Saudi Arabia's health ministry says that the country is expecting to receive millions of vaccines from manufacturers within the next few weeks.