Specialty drug maker Baxter International Inc. will work with the World Health Organization to develop a vaccine that could stem an outbreak of a deadly swine flu strain in Mexico.
Baxter spokesman Christopher Bona said Saturday that the Deerfield-based company has asked the WHO for a sample of the flu strain.
He says Baxter has patented technology that allows the company to develop vaccines in half the time it usually takes, about 13 weeks instead of 26.
Humans don’t have a natural immunity to swine flu strain, which emerged in Mexico in March.
Officials have warned that the outbreak could become a global epidemic.
