Hani al-Nazer, head of the National Research Center, gave a one month grace to Vacsera Holding Company for Biological Products & Vaccines to produce the Egyptian Bird Flu vaccine, which was developed by the center's scientists, otherwise it would search for another foreign company to produce it. For its part, Vacsera said it is not subject to any pressure and that it has already started to work on the production line.
"I hope we won't eventually have to contract with a foreign agent," al-Nazer said.
Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, he said: "I can see no justification for this delay in producing the drug although the country faces a serious health crisis. The importers of the vaccine do not want that vaccine to be produced because their experiments will stop." Since the center signed a contract with Vacsera a month ago, I have been making weekly contacts with Mohamed Rabie, Vacsera chairman, to urge him to produce the drug. Vacsera says it considers buying new production lines because its production cannot meet Egypt's' needs. I do not mind if the company started to produce limited quantities of the drug. The time needed to produce the vaccine is ten months and not eighteen months as the company says. "We are still receiving offers from private companies to produce the drug. The contract does not impose fines on Vacsera if it delayed the production of the drug because we tried to get the vaccine before the next season, which is expected to be more aggressive. We preferred to sign the contract as soon as possible and then agree on money," al-Nazer said.
For his part, head of the research team producing the bird flu vaccine Mohamed Ahmed, wondered whether Vacsera contracted with the Center to produce the drug or to freeze it! "If we found another national company able to produce the vaccine, we would immediately contract with it and cancel the contract with Vacsera."
The center was stunned by Vacsera announcing that it needs eighteen months to produce the drug. The center expected that the company said this only to reduce the demand or to escape the pressure of the media, but, unfortunately, it seems that it is not ready to produce the vaccine at present. The center preferred to contract with Vacsera in order to reach a suitable price for the poultry breeders, Ahmed said, pointing out that: "The company was supposed to produce such a drug as soon as possible, especially as the country suffers from Bird Flu."
Magda Rakha, an emeritus member of Vacsera, said the company is not exposed to pressure to produce the vaccine. What has been signed between the center and the company was a "cooperation protocol and not a contract." This protocol aims to benefit from the Egyptian expertise.
"Many other steps should be taken before signing a contract to produce the drug, as the company has to evaluate the strain, isolated by the Central Laboratory for the Control of Veterinary Preparations in Abbasiyah. We would receive the result after two weeks. The protocol that was signed is an initial step and there is no timetable for the production of the drug."
Vaccines of Influenza, either for humans or animals, are produced by a technology that is totally different from that of producing other vaccines. The company's current production lines could not be used to produce the vaccine. Therefore, the company started to establish an initial production line to make use of the Egyptian strain. The line will come on stream after eight months. It will produce 100 million doses at most.
Vacsera started developing a plan for producing a veterinary vaccine for Avian Flu a year ago. It had already allocated part of the financial support, some LE 100 million, to produce the vaccine, Rakha added.
