Drug developer Baxter International Inc. said Thursday Austrian regulators approved its seasonal flu vaccine Preflucel.
While traditional flu vaccines are cultivated in chicken eggs, Preflucel is made with a technology called Vero cell, and made from a mammalian cell line. The company has said its manufacturing process prevents interaction between the vaccine and the egg environment, and keeps it pure because it does not interact with antibiotics. It says it uses no preservatives or adjuvants, which are drugs intended to strengthen the vaccine's effects.
Baxter said Preflucel is now available in Austria and will be available in the Czech Republic during the 2010 to 2011 flu season. Baxter expects to ask for approval in additional European countries in 2010.
Shares of Baxter rose 41 cents to $48.03 in morning trading.
