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Drug company finds more smallpox vaccine

By Christy Feig
CNN Medical Unit

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Millions of doses of smallpox vaccine have been found in the freezer of a pharmaceutical company, government sources said Thursday.

The vaccine, which was made in the late 1950s, was found several months ago and discussions about what will become of it have been under way between the company, Aventis Pasteur, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Of biggest concern for the government is whether the vaccine is still effective, and if so, could it be diluted to create enough doses to cover Americans should the need arise.

A big concern for Aventis is protection from lawsuits should problems arise in clinical trials if it hands the product over to the government.

For now both sides are mum on the details, but they plan to release specifics in the next few days.

Researchers have been testing the government's existing smallpox vaccine stock -- about 15 million doses -- to see if it would still be effective after diluting it five-fold or 10-fold. Early results looked successful; final results are to be Thursday afternoon.

Even if all of the existing stock were diluted, there would still not be enough of the vaccine to cover every American. So the government is both expediting production of the standard vaccine and starting work on new and safer versions.

If the recently discovered doses prove to be effective and can be diluted to some degree, it would alleviate the shortage.

Sources tell CNN the smallpox vaccine is very hardy and tests so far look very good. However, tests need to be done in volunteers to verify that the responses are as good as with the current stock. Although those tests are under way, it will take about six months to make sure it is safe and effective and can be diluted.

Representatives from the company said that "in the interest of national security we agreed to the government's request not to discuss this matter publicly."

Aventis Pasteur is located in Lyon, France. Its U.S. operations are in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania.



 
 
 
 







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