The French pharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur has found 70 million to 90 million forgotten doses of smallpox vaccine stored in company freezers, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 19).

The newly discovered doses could give the United States time to develop better formulas for smallpox vaccines while still being able to protect its citizens with the current vaccine supply in the event of a smallpox bioterrorism attack, according to experts.

“It’s a great insurance policy,” said D.A. Henderson, director of the new U.S. Office of Health Preparedness.

Aventis, whose U.S. operations are based in Pennsylvania, is currently negotiating with the Health and Human Services Department over giving the vaccine supply to the government, according to government sources familiar with the discovery.  Issues that still need to be negotiated include how much, if any, payment Aventis would receive for the doses and what level of liability the company would have if there are problems with the vaccine.

“There are legal things that still need to be finalized,” said Health and Human Services spokesman Bill Hall, adding that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson hopes to have negotiations completed before next week.

“Until then, our hands are tied,” Hall said.

Because of rising fears that smallpox might be used in a bioterrorism attack, researchers have conducted studies to determine whether the current smallpox vaccine stockpile can be diluted to provide more doses with the same level of effectiveness (see GSN, Feb. 6).  Early studies have shown promising results with fivefold and tenfold dilutions, according to U.S. health officials.  The final results of those tests are expected today, the Post reported.

If the current vaccine stockpile were diluted to produce 10 times the current number of doses, it would only provide enough to vaccinate half the U.S. population, but the Aventis discovery more than makes up the difference, according to the Post.  The Aventis vaccine appears to be fully potent and health authorities might also be able to dilute it fivefold if necessary, said a government scientist.

The Aventis discovery could lead to a decision to re-offer smallpox vaccinations before an outbreak occurs and before a through analysis of the impact of such a program is considered, warned Tara O’Toole, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies.

“Doing that without proper foresight and planning could be a disaster.  It could kill people, that’s for certain, and it could undermine the government’s credibility,” O’Toole said.  “There are very significant ethical issues involved in saying, ‘OK, you can have it and you can’t.’  This is no small challenge” (Rick Weiss, Washington Post, March 28).

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