GLOBAL preparations for an avian flu pandemic are being compromised by British delays in funding critical vaccine research, according to leading scientists.

As the H5N1 virus moved closer to Europe yesterday with suspected cases among poultry in Turkey, The Times has learnt that urgent studies into improved vaccines are being held up because the Government is stalling over financial support. The Department of Health has yet to respond to detailed proposals submitted by British virologists almost eight months ago, even though the work is widely acknowledged to be desperately needed to create vaccines.

Flu experts said that the delay was unacceptable when vaccine development should be every country’s priority for health research.

“The length of time this has taken is inordinately long,” said Sir John Skehel, director of the National Institute for Medical Research and vice-president of the Academy of Medical Sciences. “There’s no doubt that the trial in H5 is an emergency matter and should be done as quickly as possible, given refereeing safeguards to ensure quality. It really is the number one priority across the board. That should be it.”

A vaccine against H5N1 flu, which has infected 115 people and killed 60 in South-East Asia, will be critical to containing a pandemic if the virus starts to move from person to person. A candidate vaccine has been developed by Sanofi Pasteur, a French pharmaceutical company, but trials in the US have shown that it confers immunity only at very high doses, which must be four times stronger than conventional flu shots.

Without substantial improvements to the vaccine, it will be possible to cover only about 75 million of the world’s population of 6 billion people, even if every conventional factory is switched to make the new jab.

The British research is important as it aims to reduce the amount of vaccine needed for protection, and thus expand the numbers immunised. The team, led by John Wood, of the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control in Hertfordshire, and Karl Nicholson, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester, plans to test booster chemicals known as adjuvants that enhance the immmune system’s response to the vaccine.

While the US National Institutes of Health is investing heavily in H5N1 vaccine research, it has yet to investigate adjuvants, and the British group is among the most experienced in the world in the field.

A formal proposal was sent to the Department of Health in the early spring, but the researchers are still waiting for a response. Professor Nicholson said: “I’m very concerned indeed. I’m extremely sorry to say that in the UK, though we have made vaccine strains, the Department of Health hasn’t actioned critically important work that needs to be done.”

Dr Wood said that the systems for funding medical research in Britain and the European Union were not equipped to handle proposals that needed quick decisions.

Even if money were made available immediately, the hold-up meant that the work would not be able to begin until next year. The rigid timetables of vaccine manufacturers, which are now producing standard flu jabs for the southern hemisphere winter, mean that no facilities will be available to make batches for trials until the spring. An opportunity was missed during the summer because of the funding delays. David Salisbury, principal medical officer of the Department of Health’s communicable disease branch, defended the delay, saying it would be wrong to commission the work without proper consideration.

“We have got plans to get the best possible spread of research studies to get our pandemic policy secure. We have already held meetings with key researchers. We know what researchers want, but there is also a question about what we from the public health side want.

“We want to have the best possible research programme and that proposal is just one part of that jigsaw. There are a number of other pieces, all of which need consideration.”

• Fears that avian flu had already reached Europe eased yesterday, when tests on dead birds found in Romania proved negative. Hundreds of poultry were culled in the Danube region at the weekend after suspected cases in ducks.

  But British veterinary officials said that these were not found to have died of the H5N1 virus. Concern that the virus will eventually spread to Europe remains high, however, with another outbreak suspected in Turkey. Officials slaughtered 2,000 poultry on a farm in Balikesir province after avian flu was detected there.

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