Pandemic schmandemic. So far, there have been more than 340,000 confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu and over 4,100 deaths; a fraction of the 250,000-500,000 felled by seasonal flu each year. But it is swine flu that grabs the headlines, blogs and column inches – it scores more than three times the number of hits as seasonal flu when punched into Google – and subsequently the dollars too. Swine flu has filled the coffers of manufacturers of drugs, masks, sanitisers and even soap.

GlaxoSmithKline is among those raking it in. The UK drugmaker, in the space of the past two months, has secured 22 government orders to supply 149m doses for its H1N1 vaccine. That brings the total order book up to 440m doses. Since these sell for much the same as seasonal flu jabs (say an average of £5 apiece – actual prices vary depending on country and season), the new sales will be worth about £700m-£750m ($1.1m-$1.2m). Apply the first half operating margin of 32 per cent and that gives $230m of operating profit – admittedly a drop in the ocean for GSK, but a nice kicker for investors.