After winning FDA approval in May 2015, Sanofi Pasteur’s DTaP-IPV vaccine Quadracel is finally available in the U.S. and ready to challenge GlaxoSmithKline’s Kinrix.
The vaccine is designed to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (DTaP) and poliovirus in children 4 through 6 years old.
The CDC recommended that children in the age range receive a fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine and a fourth dose of inactivated poliovirus (IPV) vaccine; Sanofi’s Quadracel combines those in a single shot.
Fewer doses means more convenience for families, potentially increasing vaccination rates, said Dr. Michael Smith, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, in a press release.
Quadracel will directly compete with GlaxoSmithKline’s Kinrix, another DTaP-IPV vaccine that was approved in 2008 as a combo shot for the fifth DTaP and fourth IPV booster. The GSK version is currently listed with a $48.6 per dose price tag for private buyers, according to the CDC.
The two companies have long been wrestling each other in DTaP pediatric vaccines. Besides its own DTaP-only vaccine, GSK also has Pediarix, a DTaP-Hep B-IPV combo shot approved in 2002, while the French company has Pentacel, a DTaP-IPV-Hib option approved in 2008.
In a September 2016 report, EvaluatePharma predicted Pentacel would be the fourth best-selling vaccine in 2022, with Pediarix trailing right behind. The report put their sales numbers that year at $1.75 billion and $1.32 billion respectively.