GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has offered to donate 50 million doses of a pandemic vaccine to the World Health Organisation in the event of a global flu outbreak.
The offer was made during a meeting between UN officials, vaccine makers and othre health experts to discuss how to provide vaccines to poor countries if the swine flu outbreak goes global.
No pandemic vaccine exists yet, byt pharma companies claim they can begin production immediately once they get the vaccine's key ingredient, a 'seed stock' based on the virus. That is being developed by the Unites States's Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and should be available by mid-July.
GSK has already signed agreements with various countries to provide them with pandemic vaccine as soon as it becomes available. These include the UK, Belgium and Finland.