Baxter International Inc. said Tuesday that it is working on a new flu vaccine that could be grown without eggs and that it hopes to have it on the market in Europe next year and in the U.S. perhaps by 2007.More than 80 million Americans got a flu shot this year, and flu vaccine is made by growing flu virus inside a chicken egg, a technology that’s been around for decades.Baxter says the advantages of its vaccine would include the company not having to buy millions of eggs, fewer problems with egg allergies that prevent a small portion of people from being able to receive a shot, and preventing the likelihood, however small, of transmitting diseases from chickens to people.Deerfield-based Baxter, which doesn’t sell a flu vaccine, says it will grow the flu virus inside huge fermenters. A single tank, the company says, can produce as much flu virus as 1 million eggs.
