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MURFREESBORO, Tenn., June 16 Children of God for Life
announced today that a new swine flu vaccine produced by
Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, is made
using ethical cell lines. The vaccine, which was hailed
last week by the Associated Press as the first to be
produced in cell culture rather than the traditional
chick embryo method, uses MDCK (Madin-Darby Canine
Kidney) cells.
Novartis said that over 30 countries have requested
their vaccine supply, including the US Department of HHS
who placed a $289 million dollar order with the company
last month.
"This is great news for families worldwide," stated Debi
Vinnedge, Children of God for Life's Executive Director.
"Other companies such as Sanofi Pasteur and Medimmune
are using aborted fetal cell line PER C6 as their cell
culture. Concerned families who may not have otherwise
used the swine flu vaccine will now have a moral
choice!"
While chick embryo is still an option for manufacturing,
cell culture is more desirable since it would speed
production time for the vaccines considerably. The news
release by Novartis last week came only days after the
World Health Organization had declared a swine flu
pandemic.
Vinnedge noted that there are other companies not far
behind Novartis that are also using moral sources for
their cell cultures. Novavax is using insect cell lines,
Baxter is using Vero cell lines and Protein Science is
using caterpillar cell lines.
“There is simply no reason to use aborted fetal cell
lines," Vinnedge noted. "We are deeply grateful that
Novartis technology is the frontrunner!"
“And it's high time that some of these other
pharmaceutical companies start listening to the public
demand," she added.
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