UPDATE:EU Says It's Well-Prepared For Swine Flu; No Travel Ban

European Union health ministers Thursday agreed to cooperate closely to stem the spread of swine flu, but stopped short of restricting travel to Mexico.

"We are on top of this ... so there is no need to panic," the European Commission's top health official, Androulla Vassiliou, told a news conference following an emergency meeting of the bloc's health ministers.

France's health minister had called for a ban on travel to Mexico, which appears to be the epicenter of the current outbreak. Other ministers refused, saying such a move would be premature.

"When the virus is already spread to many (EU) member states, travel restrictions will serve no practical purpose," Vassiliou told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the ministers' meeting.

Instead, the health ministers focused on coordinating their monitoring and treatment plans. They also agreed to work closely with the pharmaceutical industry to develop rapidly a vaccine for the swine-flu strain.

Vassiliou on Wednesday met with officials from major vaccine makers, including Baxter International Inc. (BAX), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), Sanofi-Pasteur SA and Novartis Vaccines, a unit of Novartis AG (NVS). She told the news conference on Thursday that Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) declined to participate in the meeting.

A spokesman for Roche said the company asked to participate in the meeting by telephone, but was rebuffed. "Do you expect me to give a preferential treatment to one company versus all the other companies?" Vassiliou asked at the Thursday news conference. "I don't think this is a very collegial way of dealing."

Vassiliou said pharmaceutical companies have "quite sufficient" stockpiles of antiviral medications. The main drugs countries have stored are Roche's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. EU countries started buying these medications a few years ago, when they faced the threat of a bird-flu pandemic. The commission estimates that countries have enough antiviral drugs to treat about 16% of the EU population.

Czech Health Minister Daniela Filipiova, who chaired the ministers' meeting, said EU countries have agreed to share these medicines if needed.

Vassiliou said the swine-flu outbreak is likely to reach pandemic proportions, meaning that it spreads around the globe. But she added that this doesn't mean the virus will prove deadly for most people.

"It seems that people affected by this new virus are affected in a mild way and respond positively to antiviral treatment," she said.

-By Adam Cohen and Matthew Dalton, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]