The Food and Drug Administration says it hasapproved the first seasonal flu vaccine made using animal cell technology,rather than the half-century egg method.
The FDA approved Novartis' Flucelvax to prevent influenza inpeople 18 years and older.
The new method has been promoted by U.S. health officialsbecause it is faster than egg-based production and could speed up manufacturingin the event of a pandemic.
In the older method, virus samples are injected intospecialized chicken eggs and incubated. The egg fluids are later harvested,concentrated and purified into the vaccine.
With cell technology, small amounts of virus are put infermenting tanks with nutrients and cells derived from mammals. The virus isthen inactivated, purified and put into vaccine vials.