Novartis: Meningitis B vaccine is 80 per cent effective

Novartis has said its MeNZB vaccine for meningococcal B disease has shown an 80 per cent efficacy rate from a mass vaccination programme in New Zealand.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company revealed that children who had not received the vaccine were five times more likely to contract meningitis B than those who had.

New Zealand has suffered an epidemic of meningococcal disease during the last ten years, with 5,900 people contracting the disease, killing 239 and permanently disabling over 1,000, said Novartis.

Over a million infants, teenagers and young adults have been vaccinated using the three-stage MeNZB vaccine, with 80 per cent of the target population having started doses.

Vaccination of children under five years of age will continue until 2009, unless disease rates fall enough to terminate the vaccination programme.

Rino Rappuoli, global head of research for Novartis Vaccines, commented: “Outstanding cooperation and dedication from both the New Zealand government and the Novartis team enabled us to start making a difference for threatened populations quickly.”

“Our commitment is to stop the morbidity and mortality numbers from increasing, in New Zealand and in other regions, by developing vaccines that will eradicate all forms of meningococcal disease,” he added.

Novartis Vaccines markets a meningococcal C vaccine, Menjugate, which has been used successfully in the UK, where it “played a key role in reducing the toll of meningococcal C disease”.

The company claims to be the world’s fifth-largest vaccines manufacturer in the world. The recent incorporation of Chiron, another Swiss vaccines manufacturer, has meant that Novartis has inherited various vaccines related to transfusion-related diseases.

© Adfero Ltd