AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Influenza virus

Influenza is the most common vaccine-preventable disease in the developed world. According to World Health Organization estimates, seasonal influenza results in three to five million cases of severe illness and up to half a million deaths globally each year, primarily among the elderly. Rates of infection are highest among children, with school-aged children significantly contributing to the spread of the disease. Influenza also has socio-economic consequences related to both direct and indirect healthcare costs, including hospitalisations, work absence and loss of work productivity when either a caregiver or child is sick with influenza.

OUR FOCUS

Our key marketed products

FluMist is the first live, attenuated nasally delivered vaccine approved in the US for the prevention of disease caused by influenza A and B viruses in eligible children and adults, ages two to 49 years. In 2008, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to expand recommendations for routine seasonal influenza vaccination to include all school-age children up to the age of 18 years as soon as feasible but no later than the 2009/2010 influenza season. During the year, we began rolling out the international marketing plan for our nasal spray influenza vaccine. The first milestone was the filing of a market authorisation application to the European Medicines Agency in late 2008.

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