Nose spray flu maker MedImmune to triple output

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A company that makes a needle-free flu vaccine is tripling production for the next flu season and working with schools to promote its nasal spray, officials said on Thursday.

MedImmune, which makes the FluMist vaccine, said it would triple its production from 4 million doses of vaccine last year to 12 million doses for the 2008-2009 influenza season.

The company, owned by AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research), said it has a more secure market for its vaccine after Wednesday's decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend annual flu vaccination for virtually all U.S. children.

"Until yesterday there were not broad recommendations for the use of FluMist in anyone over 5 years of age," said Dr. Frank Malinoski, MedImmune's senior vice president of medical affairs.

"We realized we had to target production along the lines of the recommendations. We are stepping up our production accordingly," Malinoski added in a telephone interview.

The company has been working with schools and school districts to test the vaccine, and reported in December 2006 that entire households benefited from a school-based vaccination program.

Adults living with vaccinated children were 27 percent less likely to report flu-like symptoms during the flu season, a team at the University of Maryland reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

MedImmune could fill a unique niche in targeting children with its vaccine, which differs slightly from standard flu shots not only in delivery, but in its formulation. It uses a weakened version of a live flu virus, and some studies suggest it may generate a stronger immune response than shots.