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City RoomTM Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff

Swine Flu May Test Baxter
Produced by Gabriel Spitzer on Monday, April 27, 2009

Passengers arrive from Mexico City wearing protective masks at Ohare on Monday (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

A Chicago-area drug maker is bidding to develop a vaccine for swine flu. They have a technology for just this scenario – but it’s unproven in a real emergency.

Experts say making new vaccines usually take at least six months. Deerfield-based Baxter International has invested in a faster way to do it, using lab-grown cells instead of chicken eggs. Other companies are working on it, too.
Government and industry are trying to speed up vaccine production in case there’s a pandemic or bioterror attack. Kenneth Alexander specializes in infectious diseases at the University of Chicago. He says now we may find out if the strategy works.

ALEXANDER: This is the real test of the system. We’re seeing here the product of all these monies that have been invested after September 11th in biodefense, bioterroism.

Baxter spokesman Chris Bona says the company has used the new technology to cook up other vaccines, but never on the urgent timetable of a global pandemic. He says as of last night, they still hadn’t gotten their hands on a virus sample.

Thomas Potter // Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 6:18 AM

Baxter International distributed H3N2 seasonal flu virus contaminated with deadly live H5N1 avian flu virus to 18 countries last December but this important news was never reported by the American media. Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS Last Updated: 27th February 2009, 3:26pm http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html

Curtis, Lincoln Square // Friday, May 01, 2009 @ 11:18 AM

You folks at NPR and PR Chicago need to get the name right for this flu to keep your reputation for getting it right. Despite its name, there is no evidence at this time that this tragic outbreak of H1N1 (swine) flu came from pigs. It is spread person-to-person and not from eating pork. While there are precautions, you can take to keep yourself healthier, avoiding a tasty pork chop is not one of them and continuing to use the incorrect name for this flu hurts agricultural markets here and around the world and leads to misinformation. President Obama and the CDC have made the correction, please follow suit. If you need further research, please reference http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ Thank you, Curtis