GlaxoSmithKline settles with government on swine flu vaccines

GlaxoSmithKline and the UK government have reached an agreement over surplus orders of swine flu vaccines placed during the height of the pandemic scare.

The pharmaceutical company and the Department of Health have agreed to cap the UK order of Pandemrix at 34.8 million doses after it was decided that vaccinating the entire population will no longer be necessary.

This settlement was deemed to represent fair value to GlaxoSmithKline, as well as allowing the government to save around a third of the cost of its original order.

Unused vaccine stock will be stockpiled as a strategic reserve in case the illness returns in a third wave.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said that the final arrangement “both protects the public purse and ensures the UK remains at the forefront of pandemic preparedness worldwide”.

Last month, the company agreed to provide more than 300 million discounted doses of its pneumococcal illness vaccine Synflorix to developing countries as part of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.