Sponsors and supporters

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (GSK Biologicals), GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines business, is one of the world’s leading vaccine companies and a leader in innovation. The company is active in the fields of vaccine research, development and production with over 30 vaccines approved for marketing and 20 more in development. Headquartered in Belgium, GSK Biologicals has 13 manufacturing sites strategically positioned around the globe. In 2008 GSK Biologicals distributed 1.1 billion doses of vaccines to 176 countries in both the developed and the developing world – an average of 3 million doses a day.

Through its accomplished and dedicated workforce, GSK Biologicals applies its expertise to discover innovative vaccines that contribute to the health and well-being of people of all generations around the world.

GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com

Novartis Vaccines – A Global Force

The Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics division is a leader in providing products to fight more than 20 vaccine-preventable viral and bacterial diseases; the only thing better than finding a cure for a disease is preventing that disease in the first place.

Novartis Vaccines is the world’s fifth-largest manufacturer of vaccines.

The Novartis Vaccines history includes legends of the twentieth-century vaccinology such as Emil von Behring, who won the 1901 Nobel Prize for his development of serum therapies against diphtheria and tetanus, and founded the German vaccines firm Behringwerke.

Novartis Vaccines’ current head of Research, Dr Rino Rappuoli, is a world leading innovator in vaccination research.

He is the pioneer of one of the most recent innovations in vaccination research – reverse vaccinology – which has helped create new solutions to finding candidate vaccines for Diseases, such as, Menigococcal serogroup B which in the past had evaded scientists using more traditional methods.

Achievement through Novartis Vaccines’ approach – tackling meningitis.

Meningococcal meningitis kills 5-10% of all those who develop this condition and bacterial meningitis can result in permanent disability in 10-20% of survivors.

One of the most disturbing aspects of meningococcal infection is the speed with which it progresses. Meningococcal infection is characterized by high fever, vomiting and confusion, which can lead in just a few hours to death. Deaths have been reported in less than four hours. If untreated, up to 50% of cases result in death.

The Novartis vaccine Menjugate® induces protective antibodies against the serogroup ‘C’ strain of the disease and was a key part of the vaccination programme in the UK where cases have fallen by more than 90%.

WHO estimates that a mass vaccination campaign could avoid 70% of cases of meningococcal disease.

Novartis Vaccines is focused on developing vaccines against the five key subgroups of the meningococcal bacteria that cause meningitis and septicemia – A,B,C,W, and Y

References
1 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2006/g8summit/vaccines/en/
2 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/meningococcal meningitis

Wyeth Vaccines, a dedicated division within Wyeth, is a major force in preventative medicine and its mission is to reduce the number of serious illnesses and deaths from bacterial and viral infections around the world. In recent years, Wyeth has developed some of the most innovative vaccines in the health care arena.

The company was at the forefront in the development of vaccines to protect against Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) and meningococcal group C disease. These vaccines have had a major impact in reducing the number of cases of meningitis & septicaemia in the UK.

Since the introduction of Wyeth’s pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into the UK’s routine childhood immunisation programme, Wyeth has worked with Meningitis Research Foundation to help build greater awareness of pneumococcal disease as a significant cause of meningitis.

Our vaccine pipeline includes additional pneumococcal conjugates & meningococcal group B candidates.

Together with the Meningitis Research Foundation, Wyeth is working towards a world free of meningitis and septicaemia but until then, we are glad to assist in public & professional education of their signs and symptoms.

Wyeth is now a part of Pfizer Inc. The merger of local and Pfizer entities may be pending various jurisdictions and is subject to completion of various local legal and regulatory obligations.

Baxter is dedicated to improving public health worldwide. Baxter technologies have the potential to open the door to a new generation of vaccines, both bacterial and viral.

Baxter produces and distributes the following vaccines:

• FSME-IMMUN, against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE)
• NEISVAC-C, a group C meningococcal conjugate vaccine

and is developing innovative vaccines:

• a cell culture based influenza vaccine – interpandemic, and pandemic and pre-pandemic
• a cell culture derived vaccine against smallpox
• a SARS vaccine
• a Ross River vaccine
• a vaccine against West Nile virus infection
• a vaccine against Chikungunya

Baxter’s mission is the prevention of a broad spectrum of infectious diseases in infants, children and adults.

As a not-for-profit organisation and part of the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), BPL operates as the national fractionator, committed to providing plasma-derived products for health care professionals in England and Wales.

BPL manufactures a wide range of products, which fall into three main groups: Human Immunoglobulins, Human Albumin Solutions and Coagulation Factors.

For information on our products, please contact our Customer Services on 020 8258 2342.

B·R·A·H·M·S specialises in innovative biomarker products which facilitate earlier diagnosis of diseases and better control of therapy, thus enabling doctors to provide more efficient and economic patient care. Major fields of activity are diagnosis of Sepsis& Infection, Tumours, Down’s syndrome, and Thyroid diseases.

B·R·A·H·M·S has recently entered the Cardiology and A&E markets with several new Markers to help the clinician identify and differentiate several disease states.

• MRproANP for Heart Failure and Risk Stratification
• MRproADM as a prognostic marker for 30 day Mortality
• Copeptin for early identification of Myocardial Infarction
• Procalcitonin is a biomarker which has been shown to be a useful additional tool in the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis. The test is available in multiple formats making it more readily accessible to the clinician.

http://www.brahms.de
http://www.procalcitonin.com<.a<

The Health Protection Agency is an independent UK organisation set up in 2003 by the government to protect the public from threats to their health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards.

The Agency identifies and responds to health hazards and emergencies caused by infectious disease, hazardous chemicals, poisons or radiation. It gives advice to the public on how to stay healthy and avoid health hazards, provides data and information to government to help inform its decision making, and advises people working in healthcare. It also makes sure the nation is ready for future threats to health that could happen naturally, accidentally or deliberately.

The Agency combines public health and scientific knowledge, research and emergency planning within one organisation – and works at international, national, regional and local levels. It also supports and advises other organisations that play a part in protecting health.

Visit www.hpa.org.uk for more information.

Immunisation is the single most effective way to protect our children against infectious diseases. NHS Immunisation Information publishes an extensive range of materials on immunisation, for parents and health professionals.

Website: www.immunisation.nhs.uk

For ordering publications: Department of Health publications orderline: www.orderline.dh.gov.ukor e-mail: dh@prolog.uk.com

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, is the largest company in the world entirely dedicated to human vaccines.

Sanofi Pasteur offers the broadest range of vaccines, providing protection against 20 infectious diseases. We distribute more than 1.6 billion doses of vaccine per year, making it possible to immunize more than 500 million people worldwide.

Every day, the company invests more than EUR 1 million in research and development. The company's heritage, to create vaccines that protect life, dates back more than a century.

Our vision is a world in which no one suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease.

Our mission is to protect and improve human health worldwide by providing superior, innovative vaccines for the prevention and treatment of disease, playing an active role in the immunization community.

p>To achieve our vision, we rely on cooperation, innovation and education. Informing the public about the burden of disease and the true value of vaccines will help maintain and develop greater immunization coverage and as a result, save lives.

For more information, please visit:www.sanofipasteur.com or www.sanofipasteur.us