Safety of adjuvants
Adjuvant safety and the use of preclinical models to assess adjuvant safety were due to be discussed at the WHO conference on adjuvants on 4–8 December 2005. A WHO web site on adjuvants in clinical evaluation including adjuvant safety, with a database of clinical trials, will be made available shortly.
Since a squalene-containing adjuvant is already used for one already licensed flu vaccine, and is also a candidate adjuvant for pandemic influenza vaccines, it would be important to assure the safety of squalene in that context. An authoritative information source on adjuvants, including a review of the scientific data to support adjuvant safety for vaccines that might be used in pandemic influenza vaccine, should be developed.