Glaxo H1N1 shot works on children after one dose

Bottles of Pandemrix, a vaccine against H1N1 influenza, so-called swine flu, are seen after the first delivery at pharmacies in Dortmund October 22, 2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline has shown that its H1N1 vaccine works in children after just one dose, potentially helping to ease the supply pressure as drugmakers rush to produce enough of the swine flu shot.

The vaccine, Pandemrix, is currently approved for use in two doses to children, but Glaxo said on Friday that governments might be able to change this to just one once the trial was completed.

Glaxo, the world's second biggest drugmaker, also said that 150,000 people have received the vaccine so far across Europe since mass vaccinations started last week.

Early results from the study showed that the vaccine worked after just one shot in all of the 200 children, aged between 6 and 36 months, that it tested.

Glaxo's Pandemrix has an edge over rival products because it contains a so-called adjuvant -- an immune-stimulating compound designed to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Earlier on Friday, Europe's drugs watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, said that giving two doses of swine flu vaccine was preferable as the data so far was not conclusive.

(Reporting by Ben Deighton and Karen Foster)