The vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline was proven effective in a recently presented clinical study
A new vaccine against the pneumococcus bacterium, called Synflorix, produced by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), will soon be approved. Sinflurix is designed to protect against the pneumococcus bacteria, which causes meningitis, otitis media, bacterial pneumonia, as well as severe infections in children and babies.
The new vaccine will offer extensive coverage and protection against contagious infectious diseases, as a result of the bacteria, compared to the existing vaccine. Sinflurix will provide immune protection against three main strains of the bacterium, types 1,5 and F7, which until now could not be vaccinated against. These strains are responsible for about 5%-25% of all cases of morbidity and are considered to be the main causes of severe morbidity among children. Sinflurix has a unique system that increases the natural response of the body's immune system to the antibodies contained in the vaccine against the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, which are the main causes of infections that lead to otitis media, each of which is responsible for up to 40% of all cases of morbidity.
As part of the Sixth International Conference on Infectious Diseases, the ISPPD, held recently in Iceland, the results of the third phase of a clinical study conducted on the vaccine were presented for the first time. From the results of the collected data, it appears that Sinflurix provides an effective and extensive immune response against the seven strains of the pneumococcus bacteria, against which the existing vaccine works. Depending on the different strains, the vaccine showed an effectiveness of 87.3%-100% in protection against the bacteria. Beyond that, the vaccine showed significant effectiveness, of at least 93.1%, in protection against the three strains of the bacterium types 1,5 and F7. The results of the study present to the medical world an effective and important tool that may prevent more infectious diseases among children around the world.
Sinflurix was submitted in January 2008 for approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and even for early registration, as a life-saving vaccine, in the World Health Organization (WHO).
