Meningococcal disease: FDA approved vaccine from Novartis

Novartis announced on Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Menveo (Meningococcal Group A, C, W-135 and Y conjugate vaccine) for the prevention of meningococcal disease caused by four strains of the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (N meningitidis) in infants and toddlers from two months of age. With this expanded indication, paediatricians in the US can now offer a single vaccine for the protection of infants, children and adolescents against four of the five most common serogroups that cause meningococcal disease, Novartis said in a press release. “Each year, more children in the US die or are left with permanent disability from meningococcal disease than from two other diseases combined that we routinely vaccinate infants against - rotavirus and varicella,” said Dr Steve Black, University of Cincinnati.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2014.