Flu

The US government has failed rather miserably in coaxing parents to get vaccinated against illnesses. Only about 15 percent of kids get all their recommended shots, one of the main reasons why worries that there will not be enough swine flu vaccine to go around this fall likely are overblown.
It’s one of the reasons why companies not named AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN), GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK), Novartis AG (Nasdaq: NOVN), Sanofi-Aventis SA (NYSE: SNY) and Australia’s CSL Ltd. might not see any business from providing swine flu vaccines this season.
But then there is Wal-Mart. About 140 million people shop at Wal-Mart each week. A deal with the retailer could certainly help the government reach its goal of getting about 159 million people the vaccination this fall, especially young children that CDC officials also want to see get a regular flu shot.
There’s been no talk of pricing yet, but count on Wal-Mart to make price a fixture of any outreach. Don’t be surprised if there are 2-for-1 specials for families, and special deals for kids that also get a regular flu shot.

Sphere: Related Content

If pigs could fly, this place would be a busy airport

De lack of attention concerning the swine flu thing is amazing. Here’s a last update coming from Goldman Sachs:

"Production of hundreds of millions of doses of swine flu vaccine may move ahead next week after the virus spread to 23 countries and 41 U.S. states, world health officials said. The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. jumped to at least 642, led by an outbreak in Illinois, after state health labs received kits to perform their own tests of people with symptoms, the U.S. Centers for Disease control and Prevention said today on its Web site. The cases include two U.S. deaths and may represent a fraction of the total cases, officials said. Disease trackers are monitoring 81 cases in Spain and 27 in the U.K. to determine whether the virus formally called H1N1 has established itself outside North America. Such a finding would prompt the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic, the first since 1968, the agency said. A WHO panel will meet next week to discuss whether vaccine makers should begin producing a swine flu shot once they finish with the seasonal flu vaccine. "We have recommended for all manufacturers to put everything into place to be able to start manufacturing the vaccines," Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO’s initiative on vaccine research, said today at a news conference in Geneva. "A further review might be potentially to stop seasonal vaccine production." WHO, the United Nations’ health agency based in Geneva, determined that a swine flu shot would have to be made in separate plants from the seasonal flu version. Swine flu vaccine may also require a follow-up booster shot in order to be effective because it is an entirely new strain, Kieny said. The single-shot seasonal flu vaccine itself acts as a booster, reinforcing natural antibodies from previous exposures to viruses."

Until now, the standard flu vaccines are going to make us rich. The reason: the real customers of these vaccines are the governments. This is already an established industry and yields tend to be driven down by competition. The most important vaccines are produced by:
· Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX)
· Dynavax (NASDAQ: DVAX)
· Hemispherx Biopharma (AMEX: HEB)
· BioCryst Pharma (NASDAQ: BCRX)
· AVI BioPharma (NASDAQ: AVII)
· deCode Genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN)
· Crucell (NASDAQ: CRXL)
· Vical (NASDAQ: VICL)
Instead think about this: biochip sensors. Last year, agricultural losses of hundreds of millions of dollars were caused by the inability to quickly locate the source of a salmonella infection. What is needed, and will arrive in the not-so-distant future, are sensors that can detect disease pathogens cheaply and instantaneously.
EETimes is reporting that CombiMatrix Corp. has made biochips that can be programmed to identify any known flu type. CombiMatrix says its microarray can be updated for new influenzas in less than a day and can deliver test results in only four hours.

Sphere: Related Content

Flying too high

There are three Mexican airport stocks: Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ticker: ASR), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (ticker: PAC), and Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (ticker: OMAB). Although they seem financially in a good shape, they can not escape the fall-out of the swine flu reports.
And they are hit. But not too hard, until now.

If governments however wil start to issue negative advices to go to Mexico, this may change.

Don’t forget to look to this category of stocks once this outburst of fear is over.

Sphere: Related Content