Drugmaker links vital to pandemic fight - U.N. chief

Drugmakers should work together with governments to shield the world from the worst of a flu pandemic, the head of the United Nations said on Tuesday.

In his speech to the World Health Organisation’s annual congress, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the H1N1 virus that has infected 40 countries worldwide has illustrated the need for private and public sector leaders to work together.

“This outbreak spotlights yet again the interconnected nature of our world. Geography does not guarantee immunity,” he told officials from the WHO’s 193 member states.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ban visited the U.N. health agency’s disease surveillance centre and met executives from 30 pharmaceutical companies, which have been waiting for guidance from the WHO about whether to start producing pandemic vaccines alongside seasonal flu jabs.

Ban said it was critically important that poor and vulnerable people have access to the drugs and vaccines they may need to confront the continued spread of H1N1 flu, which has caused mild symptoms in most patients but killed 74 people, mainly in the disease epicentre Mexico.

Pregnant women and people with other health problems such as diabetes, asthma and tuberculosis are thought to be susceptible to serious effects from the recently-discovered strain that is a genetic mix of swine, bird and human viruses.

“Partnerships with the private sector are absolutely vital going forward,” Ban said in his address to the World Health Assembly, in which he also stressed the need for countries to think beyond their borders in their response to the flu.

“Solidarity in the face of this particular outbreak must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines. It means that virus samples and data are shared. It means that self-defeating restrictions on trade and travel are avoided,” he said.

Negotiations are taking place in Geneva this week on a deal outlining the way biological specimens of viruses are shared with drugmakers, who will use them to develop and sell vaccines to fight the H1N1 flu.

Developing countries including Indonesia have previously called for restrictions on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to patent such virus samples and offer vaccines at an unaffordable price.

According to the latest WHO tally, nearly 9,000 people worldwide have been infected with the new flu strain, with the largest concentrations in Mexico, the United States and Canada. Big pockets of infection have also been reported in Japan, Britain and Spain.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has said the H1N1 virus has put the world on the brink of pandemic, but has not yet formally declared that a pandemic is underway. (Editing by Dominic Evans) (For more Reuters stories on swine flu, click on [nFLU])

By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters)