French move fuels fears for flu vaccine sales

France's decision to cancel over half the swine flu vaccines it ordered has increased concerns that manufacturers' revenues from the H1N1 pandemic will be lower than forecast. Experts had initially anticipated that everyone would need two shots of vaccine for immunity against the H1N1 virus, but a single dose of vaccine is now deemed sufficient for adults. That, combined with scepticism about the need for immunisation among the general population, has resulted in reduced demand for vaccines across Europe. The French government said on Monday it aimed to cancel 50 million of the 94 million doses ordered from Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Baxter International because of over-supply. A government spokesman said on Tuesday it had already cancelled 9 million doses from Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of Sanofi-Aventis, and was in talks about cancelling the remaining excess supply from other companies. The decision follows similar moves last month by Germany, Spain and Switzerland to try and cut deliveries, return unwanted stocks to suppliers or sell them on to other countries, due to a low uptake at home.