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Flu Vaccine Snag Dec. 8, 2004 -- British regulators have extended the suspension on flu vaccine manufacturing at the Liverpool plant of Chiron Corporation. That could jeopardize next year's vaccine supply. Chiron's British flu vaccine license was suspended on October 5 because some lots were contaminated, and the company couldn't assure all 50 million doses ordered by U.S. health care providers were safe. Now British regulators say the company needs another three months to rectify problems in its Liverpool plant. That potentially means that Chiron won't resume vaccine production until early April. And that could be a big problem. Generally it takes six months to make a new flu vaccine. Chiron notes that in order to deliver next fall's flu vaccine, "production must begin no later than early spring of 2005." U.S. officials say another company may enter the flu vaccine market in the next year. But it's not clear if that company could make up the shortfall if Chiron can't meet the deadline. Breast Cancer Drug Favored Dec. 8, 2004 -- A new drug for breast cancer continues to show promise as a replacement for an old stalwart, according to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer symposium. An international group of researchers reported two years ago that an aromatase inhibitor called anastrozole (brand name, Arimidex) is better than tamoxifen in holding off breast cancer recurrences for at least three years. Tamoxifen used to be the treatment of choice for postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor-positive tumors. Now the researchers are reporting that anastrozole protects from recurrence better than tamoxifen for five years. Dr. Larry Wickerham of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project says many U.S. oncologists already have switched to anastrozole or other aromatase inhibitors. The newer drugs cost five to 20 times as much as ******* tamoxifen. Women haven't taken the drug long enough to show whether anastrozole actually increases their survival rates. The researchers who conducted the study received support from anastrozole manufacturer AstraZeneca. |