A few items on the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak: There were roughly 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England in the past week, nearly twice the number of new cases the week before, the BBC reports . Most cases have been relatively mild, and the number of confirmed deaths stands at 31. But that figure is expected to rise today when the government reports the latest figures. Roche expects sales of Tamiflu to triple to nearly $2 billion this year, Dow Jones Newswires reports . The company has been able to meet the high demand for the flu drug because it ramped up production when the bird-flu scare emerged earlier in this decade, and built up inventories as demand dropped in the past few years. GlaxoSmithKline has received government orders for 195 million doses of swine flu vaccine, and expects to receive plenty more, the WSJ reports . The

company is selling the shots for about $10 a piece to wealthy nations, less to developing countries, and donated 50 million doses to the WHO. The company’s CEO estimated delivery of the vaccine by early 2010. Clinical trials for swine-flu vaccines are about to start in the U.S., the New York Times reports . About 2,400 volunteers will be tested. Some will get one shot of the vaccine, some will get two — it’s not clear whether one dose will be enough to generate sufficient immunity. Some subjects will get the swine flu vaccine concurrently with the seasonal flu vaccine. The trials will take about two months, and will use vaccines made by Sanofi and CSL Biotherapies. Novartis is conducting separate trials, the NYT notes. Image of a flu-virus particle via CDC

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Swine-Flu Update: U.K. Surge, Tamiflu Sales & Vaccine Trials