UAE firm in deal to manufacture Chinese H1N1 vaccine

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Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:59am EDT

* China's Hualan secures deal to sell vaccine in Middle East

* Deal sign of competition to provide vaccines in region

* 64 deaths recorded in Gulf Arab countries so far

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DUBAI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates firm Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) GPHI.AD said this week it had acquired exclusive rights to manufacture an H1N1 vaccine by China's Hualan Biological 002007.SZ.

A statement on UAE state news agency WAM late on Thursday said Julphar, a firm based in the UAE emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, would seek to sell and market the single shot vaccine, which has been approved by Chinese health authorities, around the Middle East and North Africa.

Pharmaceutical firms are in a race worldwide to produce vaccines against H1N1 before the northern hemisphere winter, when experts warn the flu virus could spread more widely.

Hualan's deal with Julphar is a sign of competition heating up in the Arab region.

Saudi drugmaker Tabuk Pharmaceuticals entered an agreement earlier this month to produce and sell vaccine by Canadian firm Medicago Inc MDG.V in the Middle East and North Africa. [ID:nWNAB6063]

Sixty-four people have died so far in the Arabian Peninsula, including 26 in Saudi Arabia -- which will receive up to two million Muslim pilgrims from around the world in November for the haj pilgrimage at Mecca in its western region. (Reporting by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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