Apology from the BMJ for erroneous flu vaccine profits allegation

The British Medical Journal has published a correction and apology for the use of incorrect figures in its expose on whether advisors to the World Health Organization had a conflict of interest in so far as they had financial ties to drugmakers (The Pharma Letter June 7).

Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of the BMJ, conceded that she was quoting from the Council of Europe report which itself was quoting a JP Morgan report that estimated total sales (not profit as she stated) for pandemic vaccine and adjuvant, and was $6.9 billion. The industry's audited accounts for 2009 give sales figures for pandemic vaccine in 2009 in the region of $2.5 billion, according to a posting on the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) web site.

The JP Morgan figures quoted in a TPL (June 10 issue) story on the issue said that producers of pandemic vaccines had so far 'netted' an estimated $7-$10 billion from government orders, so not implying this was profit.