Results from the first randomized controlled European clinical trial of GlaxoSmithKline's ($GSK) pneumococcal conjugate vaccine show it's highly effective when it comes to preventing invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in infants younger than age 2.
Synflorix proved 93%-100% effective at preventing IPD in that age group. The Finnish Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Vaccine Trial included 47,369 children and ran two years. The three- and four-dose regimens delivered positive results, which were published in The Lancet.
"IPD causes illness, hospitalization and even death in Finnish children and across the world," William Hausdorff, vice president and vaccine development leader for pneumococcal vaccines, GSK Vaccines, said in a statement. "These significant data show that Synflorix is an important public health tool in helping to reduce the burden of the disease."
Pneumococcal diseases are a major public health problem worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. They include meningitis, bacteremic pneumonia and sepsis, among others.
- see the GSK release
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