(Murfreesboro, TN) Children
of God for Life announced today that a new swine flu vaccine
produced by Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, is made
using ethical cell lines. The vaccine, which was hailed last week
by the Associated Press as the first to be produced in cell culture
rather than the traditional chick embryo method, uses MDCK (Madin-Darby
Canine Kidney) cells. (See:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/12/novartis-swine-flu-markets-equity-pharmaceuticals.html
)
Novartis said that over 30
countries have requested their vaccine supply, including the US
Department of HHS who placed a $289 million dollar order with the
company last month.
“This is great news for
families worldwide,” stated Debi Vinnedge, Children of God for
Life’s Executive Director. “Other companies such as Sanofi Pasteur
and Medimmune
(see
NEW release) are using aborted fetal cell line PER C6 as their cell
culture. Concerned families who may not have otherwise used the
swine flu vaccine will now have a moral choice!”
While chick embryo is still an
option for manufacturing, cell culture is more desirable since it
would speed production time for the vaccines considerably. The news
release by Novartis last week came only days after the World Health
Organization had declared a swine flu pandemic.
Vinnedge noted that there are
other companies not far behind Novartis that are also using moral
sources for their cell cultures. Novavax is using insect cell lines,
Baxter is using Vero cell lines and Protein Science is using
caterpillar cell lines.
“There is simply no reason to
use aborted fetal cell lines,” Vinnedge noted. “We are deeply
grateful that Novartis technology is the frontrunner!”
“And it’s high time that some
of these other pharmaceutical companies start listening to the
public demand,” she added.
