US awards $1 billion in flu vaccine contracts

Guess who's going to be busy in the flu business...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five companies were awarded more than $1 billion in contracts to develop new and better influenza vaccines, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said on Thursday.

The companies will all work to develop cell based-vaccines to fight influenza, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) (NYSE:GSK - news) was awarded $274.75 million, MedImmune Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDI - news) was awarded $169.46 million, Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) won $220.51 million, DynPort vaccine, working with Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - news), won $40.97 million and Solvay (SOLBt.BR) won $298.59 million.

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