Novartis says will meet U.S. orders for H1N1 shots

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG is on track to deliver pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine to the United States in line with its commitments, despite low yields of the initial seed virus, it said on Thursday.

Many U.S. states and cities say they have received about a tenth as much vaccine as they had expected by this time and the the delays may discourage people who are lining up to get their shots, officials have said. Novartis said it will produce 90 million units of bulk antigen, which is expected to result in 60 million finished vaccine doses, due in part to overfills in the filling process. It has already shipped more than 7.5 m doses and expects to reach 25 to 30 mby the end of November. "The deliveries are in line with commitments made to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," the group said in a statement.