More Novartis (NVS)…this time it’s swine flu. The company is reporting that it has succeeded in making the first batch of an experimental swine flu vaccine, one day after the World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic.

The vaccine, which was produced at a Novartis plant in Marburg, Germany, was made in cells as opposed to eggs. NVS intends to use the first 2.6-gallon (10-liter) batch of vaccine for pre-clinical testing and may also consider using it human testing.

Though only 5% of the world’s vaccines are produced in cells, NVS said:

“As well as speed, another advantage of cell-based production is the ability to rapidly increase production, so the facility has the potential to produce millions of doses of vaccine each week”

David Fedson, a vaccines expert and former medical professor at the University of Virginia, had reservations about NVS’ cell-based vaccine production method:

“Cell-based technology is not going to help us increase our pandemic vaccine supply for a while.”

NVS has more than 30 requests from governments to supply them with H1N1 vaccine ingredients and plans to add a second vaccine manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Read more at Bloomberg, LA Times.

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