Local company helps the healthy get vaccinated Local company helps the healthy get vaccinated (October 22, 2004)

As local residents clamor to get their flu vaccine shots, a company in Mountain View has developed a nasal spray to administer the drug -- but only to those between the ages of 5 and 49 and who have good health.

MedImmune, Inc. a bio-technology company which manufactures the drug at its plant on Bernardo Avenue in Mountain View and at its Gaithersburg, Md. headquarters, created FluMist, the first flu vaccine in the U.S. administered through a nasal spray. The vaccine was approved by the FDA in June 2003.

"For the 2004-2005 flu season we have produced 1.1 million FluMist doses," said Clarencia Stephen, a spokesperson for MedImmune, who added that nearly 1 million more doses should be available in late November.

Although there is a shortage of the flu vaccine, she said MedImmune is not "ramping up production."

The company is distributing the vaccine through traditional channels, including doctor's offices and pharmacies, which must determine who is eligible to receive it.

-- Huong C. Pham

E-mail a friend a link to this story.