WHO reportedly added two vaccines to its prequalification list in recent weeks.
Sanofi’s meningococcal ACYW tetanus toxoid-based conjugate vaccine, MenQuadfi, notched PQ status last month, according to WHO records.
Meanwhile, a CNBG announcement last week on Chinese social media stated that its Sabin-based inactivated polio vaccine (sIPV) had won the designation. With this approval, CNBG’s shot beats out Sinovac’s product to become the second prequalified sIPV after LG Chem’s…
WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization gave the go-ahead on Monday to broader use of novel type 2 oral polio vaccine (nOPV2), making more countries eligible to deploy it, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said in a press release.
The move comes after SAGE and WHO’s independent Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety reviewed data from campaigns earlier this year that used more than 65 million doses in Benin, the Democratic Republic of the…
Press Trust of India reported Tuesday that Serum Institute of India (SII) has replaced international rival Sanofi as India’s supplier of choice for inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). The news agency said SII has won a tender to provide the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme with 5.4 million IPV doses (with a first lot arriving this month), while Sanofi picked up a lesser 3.6 million-dose order.
SII is reportedly flush with additional doses after Dutch authorities approved…
Sinovac announced last week that China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved its Sabin-based inactivated polio vaccine (sIPV).
In its press release, the Chinese biotech said that WHO accepted its prequalification materials in early 2020 and completed site inspections this February. If prequalified, Sinovac’s sIPV would become the second Sabin-based product to gain the status after LG Chem’s in January 2021.
The Beijing Institute of Biological Products and…
WHO released detailed notes last week from the March 22-24 virtual meeting of its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization.
As in the last SAGE meeting in October 2020, the impact of the pandemic on immunization as well as guidance on Covid-19 vaccines dominated the discussion. WHO’s Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) department director compared the scope of Covid-19 to that of the 1918 influenza pandemic. IVB noted, however, “promising signs” of response…
The Lancet Infectious Diseases published a meta-analysis last week of studies comparing the immunogenicity of one-, two- or three-dose regimens of fractional inactivated polio vaccine (fIPV) versus full-dose IPV when used against the three polio serotypes in children age 5 and under.
The researchers reported that seroconversion following a three-dose schedule of fIPV showed “no substantial difference” from three doses of full-dose IPV, but that the full dose gives higher titers of…
An update last week to UNICEF Supply Division’s price list for inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) shows that South Korea-based LG Chem’s recently prequalified Sabin-based shot is now the lowest-cost five-dose IPV available.
LG Chem’s price is $1.75 per dose in 2021 and falls to $1.50 in 2022. Denmark’s AJ Vaccines has the next cheapest five-dose IPV at $2.45 per dose in 2021 and as low as $1.90 in 2022. Serum Institute of India’s Bilthoven-manufactured shot is 80% more costly than its…
WHO added LG Chem’s Sabin-based inactivated polio vaccine (sIPV) to its list of prequalified products last month, making the shot the first PQ’d IPV to use the safer attenuated Sabin poliovirus.
In 2014, GSK accidentally spilled 45 liters of liquid contaminated by the wild-type Salk poliovirus into a Belgian river.
The third edition of WHO’s Global Action Plan to minimize poliovirus facility-associated risk (GAP III, published in 2015) opposed new Salk IPV facilities because of…
In another boost for the novel type 2 oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) following WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of it last month, The Lancet published positive Phase 2 data last week from two studies comparing nOPV2 to the monovalent type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2).
The studies found that two nOPV2 candidates were equally well-tolerated in infants, children and adults, with comparable immunogenicity within each cohort. The authors of the adult study added that results from genetic…
Beijing-based Sinovac announced last week that the China National Medical Products Administration has approved its 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPSV23) shot—the company’s first bacterial vaccine licensure, according to the press release.
According to lot release data, Sinovac will compete for PPSV23 market share in China against Beijing Minhai, Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, Merck and Walvax.
In other Chinese vaccine news, Shenzhen Kangtai (BioKangtai)…