Flu Vaccine: Drugmakers Could Be Ready Soon

Yet there's possibly a way around this problem. Over the past few years, several companies have sprung up to develop methods for making vaccines more quickly, such as growing viruses in cells rather than eggs. These processes hold considerable promise, but none has been licensed yet by the Food & Drug Administration. One of the difficult decisions the Obama Administration will face if the epidemic threatens to spin out of control is whether to fast-track approval of one of these next-generation vaccines in order to make it available more quickly. "If this turns out to be a crisis, the government might go to one of the newer technologies that has quicker production," explains John Clerici, chair of the life sciences and public health practice at law firm. The bigger the crisis, the greater the tolerance for regulatory risks.

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