Medimmune Will Use Moral Sources for Swine Flu

Medimmune Will Use Moral Sources for Swine Flu

Update on our press release June 16, 2009: New Swine Flu Vaccine Produced in Moral Cell Culture

MURFREESBORO, Tenn., June 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- For nearly ten years watchdog organization Children of God for Life has alerted the public on existing and new vaccines and medical products under development using aborted fetal material, and to encourage the pharmaceutical industry to pursue moral avenues of research.

So when Medimmune signed license agreements with Crucell NV for aborted fetal PER C6 cell line in 2002 for flu vaccine production, Children of God for Life immediately alerted the public and wrote to then CEO John Mott, asking him to reconsider that decision.

They never received a response.

When Medimmune Public Relations representative Karen Lancaster contacted Children of God for Life on June 17, 2009, the news was a surprising relief.

"Medimmune has shifted their focus from PER C6 for swine flu cell culture," announced Ms. Vinnedge. "Short term, they will continue using chick embryo as they do in all their regular flu vaccines. Long term, they will use MDCK (Madin-Darby Canine Kidney) for cell culture production."

Ms. Lancaster explained that they changed direction to MDCK a long and well-established cell line. When FDA meetings last fall focused specifically on the MDCK cell line as a viable cell substrate for flu vaccine production, it was an easy decision for Medimmune.

To date, PER C6 has not been used successfully in any US vaccines. In November 2007, Merck halted trials of its HIV vaccine using the cell line.

MDCK was originally used in the early 1970's for a moral version of the rubella vaccine.

It is uncertain whether Medimmune will use PER C6 in the future.