FluMist Sales Are Sluggish

The maker of the nasal spray flu vaccine FluMist has sold only about a third of the 3 million doses it produced this year despite a nationwide shortage of flu vaccine, according to a Wall Street analyst estimate.

At the urging of federal public health officials last fall, Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune Inc. tripled its planned production of FluMist doses to help ease the feared crisis. But analyst Joel Sendek of Lazard Freres & Co. said Thursday that only about 1 million doses had been sold.

“We were prepared to find that people would be sold out of FluMist,” Sendek said of his survey of doctors and pharmacists who administer FluMist. “We were surprised to find the opposite.”

MedImmune spokeswoman Jamie Lacey said the company would probably give its own update on FluMist sales when it released 2004 earnings this month. She would not say whether Lazard’s estimates were correct.

On Thursday, MedImmune shares rose 15 cents to $25.40 on Nasdaq.

The sluggish sales would mark a second straight flu season that MedImmune has had trouble selling FluMist, meant to be a needle-free alternative to the traditional flu shot.