WHO chief to seek deal on sharing flu virus samples

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan speaks during the 62nd World Health Assembly at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva May 18, 2009.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Countries facing an imminent flu pandemic are making progress on an agreement on how to share drugs, vaccines and the viruses needed to make them, the head of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Director-General Margaret Chan told officials at the WHO's annual meeting that collaboration seen between governments, drug makers and vaccine makers since the emergence of the H1N1 strain gave hope for conciliation between rich and poor countries.

"The events of the past four weeks, with H1N1, the imminent pandemic, has given all of us an opportunity," Chan said.

"We have seen something that we have never seen before: the total commitment of countries affected (by flu) to transparency, to timely reporting, sharing of information, sequences, viruses, diagnostic kits, laboratory equipment, and the list goes on."

The WHO's 193 member states have been holding negotiations since 2007 on tricky questions related to their readiness for a pandemic, prompted first by concerns about the toxic H5N1 bird flu virus that has not yet spread easily between people.

The biggest sticking point in those talks has been how and when biological samples of viruses would be shared with the world's pharmaceutical companies who need them to make vaccines, an issue known as "material transfer."

Indonesia and other developing countries have been pushing for guarantees that vaccines developed from such virus samples they provide will be made available at an affordable price, and in sufficient quantities to protect poorer nations.

Chan, who fought bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) as Hong Kong's health director, said it appeared to be time to push the 2-1/2-year-old talks toward a conclusion.

She won broad support on Thursday for a proposal for her to "facilitate a process to finalize the remaining elements including the standard material transfer agreement" and then present a deal to the WHO's executive board in January 2010.

"We think this is an excellent way to move forward," the U.S. delegate to the Geneva meeting said. Brazil, Thailand, India, Canada, Australia, and others also voiced agreement, but Chan herself warned that success would not be easy.

The H1N1 strain is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, bird and human viruses that spreads easily between people. It has killed 85 people and infected more than 11,000 so far.

Antiviral drugs including Roche's Tamiflu have been shown to work against the new virus, and vaccine makers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and Baxter are trying to boost their capacity to produce an injection to protect people against it.

(Editing by Myra MacDonald)