GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis International AG, Hurt by Drug Setbacks, May Lose Flu-Shot Race

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG, two of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, may have bet on the wrong technology in the race to develop a better flu shot.The drugmakers are building U.S. factories to grow influenza virus in animal cells as an advance over the decades- old technique of making flu shots using chicken eggs. Now a small, privately held biotechnology company may leapfrog ahead of them with a more advanced method using DNA.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC