Fluvax - H5N1 influenza vaccine is produced by VABIOTECH.

The first human testing stage has proven the effectiveness of a locally-produced H5N1 influenza vaccine.

The result was reported at a working session between the Health Ministry’s Science and Training Department and the Military Medical Institute 103 on August 21.

Head of the institute’s Epidemiology Department Doan Huy Hau said that 30 volunteer students from the institute had been reported having no serious side-effects three months after they received the second shot of Fluvax vaccine, made by the Vaccine and Bio-technology Products Company No. 1 (VABIOTECH).

The students have also developed good immunity, he added.

Fluvax vaccine is expected be put into mass production by late 2009 at a cost of around VND 30,000 per dose.

VABIOTECH has developed the vaccine using monkey kidney cells which, its Director Professor Nguyen Thu Van says, are cheaper and safer than similar vaccines using the culture on embryonic chicken eggs currently being developed by other countries.

VABIOTECH commenced its study in 2004 as avian flu began to spread throughout Vietnam. After the successful tests on animals in 2007, the company was permitted to conduct human tests in 2008.