National Public Health Institute Of Finland To Buy Bird Flu Vaccines From Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Contract Worth About US $25 Million

The National Public Health Institute of Finland on Thursday signed a contract to buy bird flu vaccines from the Dutch drug maker Solvay Pharmaceuticals. Under the contract worth 20.8 million euros (about 25.0 million U.S. dollars), Finland will be able to get enough H5N1 vaccine doses for its entire population. It is also hoped that the vaccine would provide some degree of protection against a feared mutation of the bird flu virus into a form that could be transmitted from person to person.