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From The Scientist:

Though a worrisome flu season is knocking at the Northern Hemisphere’s door, the five biopharmaceutical companies awarded massive contracts by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for development and production of more than 195 million doses of swine flu vaccine can’t really complain.

The companies — Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Australian drug maker CSL, and Sanofi-Pasteur — have been hard at work developing and testing vaccines since the H1N1 surfaced in the US, Mexico, and Canada early this spring. Though drug companies don’t tend to make production costs public, these five will likely make a pretty penny as swine flu hits in earnest this fall.

Rachael David, a spokesperson for CSL, Australia, said in an email to The Scientist that the company has contracts to supply 21 million doses of a swine flu vaccine to the Australian government and USD $180 million worth of bulk antigen to the US. “Analysts have predicted that [CSL’s profits from sale of the vaccine and ingredients] will be between AUS $250 and $300 million [USD $218 – $262 million],” David wrote.

The US government recently asked MedImmune, a Maryland-based subsidiary of drug maker AstraZeneca, to supply an additional 29 million doses of its live attenuated nasal spray swine flu vaccine, bringing the company’s total contract to 40 million doses and more than $450 million. Karen Lancaster, a MedImmune spokesperson, told The Scientist that the cost per dose for the company’s H1N1 vaccine is “a little less” than the cost per dose of the company’s seasonal flu vaccine. In addition, Lancaster said, “We invested quite a lot in order to move up the production timeline” for the swine flu vaccine. Lancaster added that 3.5 million doses of the vaccine have been OK’d for release by the US Food and Drug Administration and they’re ready to roll out the door when the government says go.