Who Has the Rest of the Flu Vaccine Contract?

Ever since the news broke about the loss of half of the flu vaccine because of bacterial contamination at Chiron's plant in the UK, I've been wondering who the other producer is. Well, in the way these things work out, I happened upon the answer without looking for it. And the winner is .... (drum roll please) Aventis, who is making the vaccine at their Swiftwater, Pennsylvania plant.

"Ho" said I, is this an "American" company? No indeed, Aventis' corporate headquarters are in Strasbourg, France. Further, Aventis is a relatively new company formed from the "merger" of Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc, on December 15, 1999.

Hoechst has kept its former website as a digital archive, and there we learn that they focused on pharmaceuticals, agricultural and animal health. Don't be surprised to learn that the ag and animal side was focused on genetic modification research and products.

Rhone-Poulenc, is in France. According to a case study at Harvard Online:

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, with revenues of more than $7 billion in 1985, seeks to dramatically expand its presence in the United States. From 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc undertakes 18 separate acquisitions, ranging from small entrepreneurial firms to large divisions of Union Carbide, Monsanto, and Stauffer Chemicals. Once having made these acquisitions, however, the French firm is faced with challenges of integrating these many disparate operations into a coherent American affiliate. The problem is complicated by differences in the nature of competition (global agrichemicals versus domestic basic chemicals), differences in the attitudes of the acquired employees, and an initial lack of confidence on the part of the acquiring firm. By the end of the case, Rhone-Poulenc management faces a specific choice regarding the best way to integrate several recent acquisitions in the field of specialty chemicals.

Like it's US industry compatriots, Rhone-Poulec is in environmental trouble ... in the US. According to the EPA:

The former Rhone-Poulenc site is being cleaned up because toxic wastes from the site are moving with the groundwater into the Lower Duwamish Waterway. Site contaminants include toluene and metals, mainly copper. These chemicals are a threat to chinook salmon and bull trout, which are endangered species found in the waterway. High copper levels make fish unable to balance chemicals in their bodies and can cause fish to die. High toluene levels disturb breathing and heart rate in fish and can also cause their death.

And where is the "Lower Duwamish Waterway"? It is south of Elliott Bay outside of Seattle, Washington.

Given the two companies merged and bought out to create Aventis in 1999, Aventis is the largest force for pushing GM products in Britain (CorporateWatch, 2000).

[If you are interested in this side of the story, you can tap Bayer/Aventis/AgrEvo News, which keeps an archive on their involvement in GM foods]

So we have Chiron based in Englewood, California making flu vaccine for the US in Britain, and we have Aventis (a corporation based in France) making vaccine in Pennsylvania. What a perfect example of globalization. Of course, that isn't going to help those who need, but can't get a flu vaccine.

Aventis also appears to be a striking example of "diversification." You buy out two companies - one in biotech focussed on agriculture, and one in the chemical industry with an ag focus - and magic happens. You get a pharmaceutical company with the contract to make half of the US flu vaccine supply. It should come as no surprise that there is a close link between pharmaceuticals and agriculture. But it does help explain why genetic modification in agriculture slipped so easily into "genetic therapies." I can hardly wait for the vaccines of the future.

(ps) The Aventis Swiftwater plant also has the contract to develop a vaccine for the avian flu.