Early clinical trial results suggest that swine flu vaccines now being rushed through development produce a strong immune response, suggesting they should work well, the head of Europe’s drugs watchdog said on Thursday.

“It seems to be quite promising,” Thomas Lonngren, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), told reporters.

“The immune response to all these vaccines is a very high response, whatever type of vaccine it is, whether it is adjuvanted or non-adjuvanted,” he added.

Adjuvants are substances added to vaccines to boost their effectiveness.

The EMEA’s expert committee on new medicines will consider the first three H1N1 swine flu vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline , Novartis and Baxter at its next meeting during the week commencing Sept. 21.

If all goes well, the first swine flu vaccines could be licensed by the European Commission early in October, Lonngren said.

LONDON (Reuters)