h1n1 virus

Pharmaceutical Stocks Get Boost from Swine Flu?

Filed under: Wealth

Pandemic spells profit for pharmaceutical giants like Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck who represent the top three producers of vaccines to treat H1N1 or swine flu. A couple weeks ago the World Health Organization prepared to declare the first worldwide pandemic in four decades and with that news the aforementioned pharmaceutical stocks began to rise 1%-2.2% on the board. At that time 27,737 H1N1 infections had been reported across seventy-four countries including 141 deaths. Countries across the globe will be inclined to increase flu-vaccine stockpiles in the hopes of controlling the potential pandemic within their borders.

When the bird flu, H5N1, was a pandemic threat a few years ago the mere production of an effective bird-flu vaccine paired with a successful clinical trial by GlaxoSmithKline impacted their second quarter positively with a 14% rise in net profits and an 11% rise in sales. At the time it was estimated that the H5N1 vaccine could potentially garner $2 million in annual sales for Glaxo. Impressive!

This just goes to show that not all stocks are in peril -- the human population may be, but that's another story.

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Tags: glaxosmithkline, H1N1, H1n1 virus, H1n1Virus, H5N1, merck, pharmaceutical stocks, pharmaceuticals, PharmaceuticalStocks, sanofi-aventis, swine flu, SwineFlu

Mexico's Resort Hotels Offer Swine Flu Guarantee

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Just how much damage has been done to Mexican tourism from the outbreak of the H1N1 virus? There are a variety of reports that indicate the flu has had a deep impact on Mexico's hotel industry. Data from STR shows that occupancy dropped more than 50 percent at the end of April and beginning of May. Tourism in Mexico was already on the wane due to threats from gang- and drug-related violence and from an overall downturn in resort travel because of the economy. The AFP reports that since the outbreak of swine flu 25 hotels in the Cancun area have closed down and that the tourism drop may cost Mexico around $2.3 billion in lost income.

As a response to this type of bad publicity, some of the hotels in the resort areas along Mexico's Caribbean coast have announced free vacations for three years to any tourist who catches swine flu while on vacationing in the region. So far over 5,000 hotel rooms are involved in the promotion which is hoped to bring a little life back to Mexico's beach resorts. Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova has said that Mexican beach resorts, including Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta have not reported any cases of the virus.

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Tags: cancun, h1n1 virus, H1n1Virus, mexico, swine flu, SwineFlu