A major American pharmaceutical company $Pfizer (PFE.US)$ has launched a vaccine product designed to prevent a potentially highly dangerous respiratory infection disease, which will be made available to an additional approximately 3 million people in England through the UK's National Health Service (NHS).
It is understood that all adults aged 80 and above in England will be eligible to receive the vaccine named Abrysvo, which aims to prevent Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a virus capable of causing severe bronchitis and pneumonia. This decision, announced on Thursday, represents a full-scale expansion of an existing program that previously covered individuals aged 75 to 79. The UK Health Security Agency stated that new clinical research evidence shows that vaccination can reduce the risk of hospitalization due to this infection by about 75%.
The British authorities initially opted for Pfizer’s vaccine to simultaneously protect both the elderly and infants in the country, a move seen as a snub to local pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. GlaxoSmithKline has launched a competitive vaccine targeting the elderly in the UK, while AstraZeneca has introduced a drug designed to protect infants from RSV.
Within the NHS system, Pfizer's Abrysvo is currently the only RSV vaccine approved for use in both the 'elderly program' and the 'infant protection program.' However, the infant-related application does not involve direct vaccination of infants; instead, it involves vaccinating pregnant women starting from the 28th week of pregnancy to confer protection to newborns via maternal antibodies. Other related products are not utilized in the NHS in this dual capacity. AstraZeneca’s corresponding product in the UK is an infant protection drug, while GlaxoSmithKline’s Arexvy serves as a competitive vaccine for the elderly.
The RSV vaccine is crucial for the elderly population, serving as a key component in the respiratory disease prevention system for older adults. The U.S. CDC notes that annually, between 110,000 and 180,000 adults aged 50 and above are hospitalized due to RSV in the United States, with the risk of severe illness increasing significantly with age. Consequently, the CDC now recommends that all adults aged 75 and above, as well as high-risk individuals aged 50 to 74, receive the RSV vaccine. One important basis for expanding the vaccination scope of Pfizer’s Abrysvo from ages 75-79 to 80 and above in the UK is the aforementioned new evidence indicating that vaccination reduces the risk of RSV-related hospitalization by approximately 75%.
Currently, there are three adult vaccines approved in the U.S. market for preventing lower respiratory tract diseases caused by RSV in older adults: Pfizer's Abrysvo, GlaxoSmithKline's Arexvy, and Moderna's mRESVIA. Abrysvo undoubtedly belongs to the first tier, with clinical data disclosed by the FDA showing that Abrysvo reduces the risk of RSV-associated lower respiratory tract diseases by 66.7% (based on ≥2 symptoms) and 85.7% (based on ≥3 symptoms) among the elderly. Pfizer subsequently announced that two seasons later, the protective efficacy against 'RSV lower respiratory tract disease with ≥3 symptoms' remains as high as 77.8%.
Editor/Doris