Facility will add 100 million doses to firm’s current 50 million dose capacity.

FDA approved Sanofi Pasteur’s new manufacturing facility for the production of seasonal influenza vaccine. It could also be used for the manufacture of a vaccine against the new 2009 H1N1 influenza strain, or swine flu.

This facility, located in Swiftwater, PA, will incorporate the latest technology in egg-based vaccine production as part of the company’s commitment to produce the largest number of doses of vaccine in the shortest time frame to address the threat of seasonal and pandemic influenza.

The sanction augments the firm’s production of its seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine, Fluzone®, in the U.S. It will produce 100 million doses when operating at full capacity. Sanofi Pasteur spent $150 million on this 140,000 sq. ft. plant. In total, Sanofi Pasteur will have a capacity of approximately 150 million doses of trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine per year in the U.S.

Sanofi Pasteur reports that it produces approximately 40% of the influenza vaccines distributed worldwide. It was responsible for over 45% of the vaccines distributed in the U.S. during the 2008–2009 influenza season.


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