Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, could next week to give vaccine from A/H1N1 flu to the Ukrainian Health Ministry to register it in the country.
"The vaccine was submitted [for registration] and is under registration now. We presented documents and can say that does of vaccine from A/H1N1 flu for laboratory tests will be given in the near future, may be next week," the regional medical manager and the head of the medical department at Kyiv-based GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ukraine, which represents the British company in Ukraine, Oleksandr Markov, told Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the vaccine was submitted for registration in September, although he did not forecast the terms of making the final decision by Ukraine, adding that foreign vaccines are being registered in Ukraine at least a half of the year as a rule.
Markov also said that if the vaccine were registered, it won’t be supplied to Ukraine on a commercial basis.
"[Pandemic] vaccines are not commercial. They are bought by governments," he said, adding that the similar policy towards pandemic vaccines is conducted not only by GlaxoSmithKline, but also by other international pharmaceutical companies.
In addition, GlaxoSmithKline soon will start supplying Relenza antiviral medicine to Ukraine. Markov did not disclose what volume of medicine and when it will be supplied, referring to a commercial secret. The medicine was registered in Ukraine several years ago, although it was not sold in Ukraine, he said.
"The medicine was registered in Ukraine several years ago… We plan to supply it to Ukraine," Markov said.
Earlier, on Nov. 6, Chief Sanitary and Epidemiology official Oleksandr Bilovol said that the government plans to buy 12.5 million doses of vaccine to immunize Ukrainians against the А/H1N1 pandemic virus.
Yuriy Konstantinov, the head of State Service for Drugs and Medical Devices at the Ministry of Health, said on November 10 that currently in Ukraine two vaccines are available: Arepanrix, which is produced by GlaxoSmithKline, and Grippol Neo-Mono, produced by Russia’s Petrovaks pharmaceutical company.
