Published : Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 7:56 PM CDT
(Newscore) - Pharmaceutical giant CSL has blamed a world-first blending of flu virus strains as the likely cause of fits in children immunized with its flu vaccine last year, The Australian reported Saturday.
CSL followed World Health Organization recommendations when it concocted its controversial Fluvax vaccine, which combined swine flu with two seasonal strains of influenza for the first time.
The vaccine has been banned for children under five in Australia, Europe and the US since it triggered convulsions in one out of every 100 children immunized in Australia last autumn.
CSL Friday revealed a breakthrough in its 18-month scientific investigation, which involves the federal government's Therapeutic Goods Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It said the interim findings pointed to a problem with how the three virus strains interacted.
"Our scientific studies indicate that the interaction between the particular virus strains used in the 2010 ... vaccine contributed to the reactions, but we are still working to understand the how and why," a CSL spokeswoman told The Australian.
"We have completed comprehensive investigations into our manufacturing operations [which] have not identified any change or deviation in our standard registered manufacturing process that could have contributed to the increased reactions."
America's Food and Drug Administration warned CSL in June that it could revoke its American license over what it described as manufacturing deficiencies and an inadequate investigation into the cause of last year's febrile fits.
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