Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceuticals: The US government has awarded a total of

$1 billion to five drug companies as part of an effort to prepare for an influenza pandemic. The contracts are for the development of new flu vaccine production techniques and include guarantees that new or expanded production sites will be US based. The largest recipient was Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which received $299 million, followed by Novartis AG, which received $221 million and GlaxoSmithKlIne, which received $275 million. US firms MedImmune and DynPort Vaccine received $169 million and $41 million, respectively. The funding is designed to accelerate the development of cell culture-based techniques for vaccine production, for which capacity can more easily be expanded than traditional egg-based techniques. Plans estimate that In five years, the five manufacturers would be able to produce 300 million doses of vaccine over a six-month period, enabling the immunization of all US residents.

Source: Washington Post