As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC's) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) assembled Wednesday to weigh endorsements for three different flu shots in older adults, Sanofi—with two vaccines in the running—trumpeted results from an Ipsos survey suggesting the French pharma wasn’t the only one clamoring for new guidance.
Sixty-six percent of U.S. healthcare professionals polled in the Sanofi-sponsored Ipsos survey said that if they had to tell the CDC to recommend one flu shot for seniors, it ought to be one with the clinical profile of Sanofi’s Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, the company said Wednesday.
Doctors cited several reasons for their Fluzone favoritism, such as the vaccine’s superior efficacy versus a standard-dose flu shot plus the body of real-world evidence it’s accrued over its nearly nine-year life span, Sanofi added.
Also in the survey, 76% of healthcare providers said they’d endorse a vaccine like Fluzone for friends and family members ages 65 and up, and 72% said they’d prefer a vaccine like Fluzone for themselves if they fell into the older age range.
Sanofi’s influenza stalwart Fluzone snagged its first approval in 2013. Fluzone is the only influenza vaccine specifically cleared by the FDA for its superior protection over standard-dose flu shots in adults ages 65 and up, Sanofi has pointed out.
Aside from Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, ACIP on Wednesday considered recommendations for Sanofi’s newer flu shot offering Flublok plus Seqirus’ adjuvanted vaccine Fluad.
Ultimately, the CDC advisers voted unanimously to back all three enhanced influenza vaccines for older Americans.
“This recommendation affirms that all flu vaccines are not created equal, and that this vulnerable population requires better protection that a standard dose vaccine may not provide,” Sanofi said late Wednesday in an emailed statement.
Back to the survey, meanwhile, the results largely tracked with Sanofi’s expectations, as well as Fluzone High-Dose’s roughly 66% market share in seniors, Christopher Rizzo, M.D., senior medical director in U.S. medical affairs at Sanofi, said in an interview.
ACIP helps “distill” the science behind vaccines to make it more “practical” for healthcare workers who, “frankly, don’t have time to stay up to date on everything,” Rizzo said.
Those medical professionals “really do rely on the ACIP recommendations” when making vaccine decisions for their patients, Rizzo stressed. In fact, 96% of the 700 U.S. HCPs Ipsos polled said they were very or somewhat likely to follow ACIP guidance when planning flu shots for their older patients.
ACIP’s recommendations for American seniors hadn’t been updated since 2010. That’s finally changed thanks to Wednesday’s decision.
For more than a decade, it’s been well understood that “standard-dose influenza vaccine is not good enough for older adults,” Rizzo said.
Fluzone is Sanofi’s influenza prize fighter, though its younger sibling Flublok has also shown “efficacy higher than standard dose” vaccines in the clinic, Rizzo said. Flublok boasts “some” real-world evidence, too, though it doesn’t have the same real-world evidence “legacy” as Fluzone, he explained.
As for seniors who receive standard-dose shots, those patients are typically underserved, Rizzo said. He cited a recent paper that showed certain ethnic and racial minorities are more likely to get standard dose versus a high-dose flu shot, even though Fluzone High-Dose “has the higher market share based on what [doctors] feel is best for their patients.”
The CDC itself has flagged racial disparities in influenza hospitalizations, ICU admissions and in-hospital deaths as a serious concern. Last year the agency said it was combating those disparities through efforts to boost vaccination rates among minority groups.
Regardless of which vaccines ACIP ultimately endorsed, the main thing is that “we definitely need to get standard dose out of the mix,” Rizzo said. “There’s not a need to give standard dose to seniors unless that’s the only vaccine available.”
Thanks to ACIP’s 15-0 vote Wednesday, Sanofi’s dream may soon become a reality.