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Mar 13 2007

Indonesia witholds bird flu samples

SCI-TECH

By Agencies

Indonesia worrys drug companies will make vaccines that developing nations cannot afford [EPA]

Indonesia has refused to share bird flu samples with the WHO, unless a legally binding agreement is provided promising the virus will not be used to develop an expensive commercial vaccine.

Indonesia's health minister said on Tuesday that a signed letter of guarantee was not sufficient and that Indonesia required a Material Transfer Agreement.

Siti Fadilah Supari, the health minister, said: "We will not share the virus before there is a Material Transfer Agreement."

She said that she hoped one would be drafted during a bird flu meeting in Jakarta later in March between Asia Pacific health officials and the World Health Organisation.

Indonesia and the WHO have been in a standoff over the issue for a number of weeks with Supari saying that a letter of agreement signed by Margaret Chan, the WHO's director general, would not be sufficient.

Last month Indonesia signed a deal with US-based Baxter Healthcare Corp to develop a human vaccine for the virus and the Indonesian government said it would only resume cooperation with the WHO if the body stopped providing samples to other commercial vaccine makers.

Indonesia says it is worried that drug companies will use its bird flu samples, sent to WHO affiliated laboratories, to make vaccines that developing nations will not be able to afford.

Several countries are developing vaccines to protect against H5N1, the strain of the virus blamed for 167 human deaths worldwide, more than a third of which were in Indonesia.

The virus remains mainly an animal disease, but experts are concerned it may mutate into a form that easily spreads between humans, potentially killing millions.