Chiron to Ship Flu Shots After FDA Approval

Chiron Corp. said it would begin shipping about 1.5 million flu shots within days after federal regulators approved three of the biotechnology firm’s “batches” of vaccines.

Chiron has been crippled this year by plunging profit and surging expenses resulting from a vaccine debacle last year, when problems at its British production facility kept it from delivering any of its Fluvirin flu vaccine to the United States. Chiron had been slated to supply about half the nation’s vaccine.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Chiron’s initial 1.5 million flu shots made this year for U.S. consumers and the company said this year that it hoped to ship 18 million to 26 million doses for the coming flu season.