(For other news from the Reuters Health Summit, click on http://today.reuters.com/summit/SummitInfo.aspx?name=HealthSummit06&pid=500) (Adds quotes, details throughout) By Ben Hirschler NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc <GSK.L> hopes to win new orders from two big countries for its bird flu vaccine for humans by the year-end, fueling substantial sales of the product in 2007, its chief executive said on Wednesday. So far, Switzerland and an unnamed small Asian country have ordered the pre-pandemic H5N1 shot -- which has yet to win final regulatory approval -- but governments of several larger countries are in negotiations. "I think that between now and Christmas we are going to hear from a couple of important countries," Jean-Pierre Garnier told the Reuters Health Summit in New York via a telephone interview from London. Glaxo could next year produce more than 100 million doses of the vaccine, which is designed to immunize people against a future pandemic flu strain and will probably sell for between 7 and 8 euros ($8.94-$10.22) per dose, he added. Switzerland ordered 8 million doses of Glaxo's H5N1 vaccine to protect its entire population in the event of an influenza pandemic, which many experts fear may be triggered by bird flu, but other governments may take a more conservative approach. "Some countries are buying partially, not necessarily stockpiling for every single person living in the country," Garnier said. "Most governments are very serious about this. They realize it's not a foolproof solution, it's a safety net if the vaccine mutates within the H5N1 space. If there is a wild mutation away from H5N1, then it is not the final solution." Vaccines, ignored by investors for many years, are an important driver for Europe's biggest drugmaker in the years ahead -- particularly its experimental cervical cancer shot. Cervarix will be filed for approval in the United States by April 2007, one quarter later than initially hoped, putting it more than a year behind Merck & Co. Inc.'s <MRK.N> rival Gardasil. But Garnier played down the lag. "A three-month delay on a drug that's going to be a blockbuster for 15 to 20 years is not to me a big event," he said. Garnier said there was still a chance Cervarix would get an accelerated review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, since it could help some women not suited for Gardasil. Glaxo shares took a hit last month on several research setbacks announced alongside third-quarter results, prompting some investors to demand new steps to boost shareholder returns. One option could be the divestment of consumer health but Garnier said he would not sell the division, since it provided significant synergies by allowing the company to market nonprescription versions of older medicines. Glaxo expects to bring a number of important new drugs to market next year, including Tykerb for breast cancer and Cervarix in Europe. It also has high hopes for its new controlled-release heart drug Coreg CR, which could open up the new business in treating moderate to severe hypertension, in addition to congestive heart failure (CHF). "It's more than a line extension. This is allowing us to invade a new market ... which is about five times the size of CHF market," he said.
