Novartis, the Swiss drug-maker, began its clinical trials for a vaccine for swine flu at the end of last month, a spokesman said Monday, according to dpa. In an email, Eric Althoff, from the Basle-based pharmaceutical giant, said the company's researchers expect to recruit some 6,000 people in various countries for the testing. The data would likely be submitted to health authorities in September, Althoff said, with the goal of starting deliveries of a vaccine during the final quarter of the year. This would mean the company's vaccine could be used widely as early as October. Melbourne-based CSL, part of the international CSL Group, was the first to report a clinical trial in July, saying 240 people were receiving an experimental vaccine. China's Hualan biomedical company also said it began testing. The United States would likely begin its trials in August. Many governments, mostly in the developing world and emerging markets, have placed advanced orders for doses of a vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO) and pharmaceutical observers expect a vaccine to be on the market sometime in the autumn in the northern hemisphere. The virus has been deemed a pandemic by the WHO, though it remains largely mild and is sensitive to anti-virals.
