Vietnam tests H5N1 vaccine on humans

Vietnam's National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute has conducted the first large-scale human trial of a vaccine against the avian influenza virus (H5N1). A report from the Vietnam News stated that 30 healthy volunteers from the Military Medical Institute, Hanoi, were given the locally-developed drug, which has been in development for four years. A further 240-person trial is scheduled in June, with a launch date for the product in 2009, priced at $2 per dose. The Vaccine and Biotechnology Products Company No 1 developed the vaccine from monkey kidney cells.