Chiron said this morning that it will not be able to provide any flu vaccine to customers outside of the US. The news follows last week's announcement from the company that production at its plant in Marburg, Germany, has again been hit by contamination problems. The development has raised fears on the part of some observers that the company's Liverpool facility could suffer similar problems. If that happens there would likely be a repeat of last year's chaos, when the cancellation of Chiron's entire 2004 shipment caused a national shortage. Likely to benefit: other companies, such as Maryland's MedImmune, which produces limited supplies of alternative vaccines.
- see this story from Forbes