TORONTO (AP) – Canada’s pandemic flu vaccine maker has acquired the prototype virus for a vaccine to protect against the deadly strain of avian influenza called H5N1 and has begun growing stocks of the virus, the company announced Wednesday.

But ID Biomedical is still in negotiations with the federal government to produce trial batches of vaccine, a move the government’s own experts say would significantly improve Canada’s ability to respond quickly to the next flu pandemic.

Chief executive officer Dr. Tony Holler said he remains hopeful his company will receive a contract to produce trial or so-called mock H5N1 vaccine.

“I’m not party to the negotiations but my understanding is things are going well with the federal government,” Holler said in an interview from the company’s production facility on the outskirts of Quebec City.

“Obviously they’re quite committed to pandemic preparedness so I don’t think on our side we expect any surprises.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada has indicated it would like ID Biomedical to produce mock H5N1 vaccine, but must get funding for the project – estimated to cost roughly $20 million – from the federal cabinet.

Dr. Arlene King, the agency’s head of respiratory diseases, said producing trial batches will significantly reduce the time it will take to get vaccine into arms when the next flu pandemic is declared.

“We estimate that we could shave up to about four months off of our time to be able to make available a pandemic vaccine to the general population through this process,” King explained.