Some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies are reaping billions of dollars in extra revenue amid rising global concern about the growing spread of swine flu.
Analysts expect to see a significant boost in sales from GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis when they report first half earnings lifted by government contracts for flu vaccines and antiviral medicines.
The fresh sales – on top of strong results in recent days from Novartis of Switzerland and Baxter of the US, which both also produce vaccines – come as the latest tallies show more than 740 people have died from the H1N1 virus, and millions have been affected in countries around the world.