Novartis awarded $486 million contract to create flu plant
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a $486 million contract to Novartis which will see the company build a plant in North Carolina to produce a flu vaccine
Novartis has been issued a $486 million contract which will see it build a plant in the United States to produce a flu vaccine. The company was awarded the eight-year contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Novartis’ new base will be set up in Holly Springs in North Carolina, with the firm saying it will employ more than 300 people in the next three years.
The base will be used to create a new flu vaccine using cell cultures, an alternative method to the current egg-based treatments which take up to nine months to produce. It aims to produce up to 150 million doses of the vaccine in the first six months of operation and will be used to treat any future U.S. flu epidemics.
Officials from the HHS said many U.S. states are not fully prepared for the occurrence of a flu pandemic. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) from the committee on homeland security said an outbreak could result in “hundreds of thousands to millions of deaths.”
