(Holly Springs, NC)  --  A new flu vaccine plant is being shown off.

   It's the first in the U.S. for pharmaceutical company Novartis and the first in the nation to make flu vaccine from cells instead of eggs.

   The Holly Springs, North Carolina, facility won't be producing vaccine for years, but eventually is expected to decrease U.S. reliance on imported vaccines.

   Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius toured the plant, which could also produce vaccines more quickly than facilities using the traditional egg manufacturing technique.

   Novartis predicts the plant could make up to 50-million doses of seasonal flu vaccine each year.

   The company says the plant will be capable of producing up to 150-million doses of vaccine within six months of declaration of a pandemic.




   (Copyright 2009 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)