Sanofi bird flu vaccine successful

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine production wing of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, appears to be pulling ahead in the race to develop a successful bird flu vaccine. A source inside the company tells The Wall Street Journal that it may release results of initial tests on 450 human patients as early as today. That would put the company in the position of being first to go to the FDA for approval of a vaccine.

- see this story from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

PLUS: Health authorities have ruled out bird flu as the culprit behind reports of a series of mysterious deaths in China last week. There had been speculation that the death of 17 farmers in Sichuan province was the beginning of an outbreak of the disease. Story