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Vaccine Shows Broad Coverage Against Meningitis
BANGKOK, THAILAND—The investigational vaccine MenACWY-CRM (Menveo) is well tolerated and immunogenic for infants as young as 6 months when administered as prophylaxis against four common serogroups of meningococcal meningitis, investigators reported at the 5th World Congress of the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
“Neisseria meningitidis causes life-threatening disease, and disease rates are highest in young children,” said Scott A. Halperin, MD, Director of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and principal investigator of the phase II study. “Five serogroups (A, B, C, W-135, and Y) of the bacterium are responsible for the vast majority of meningococcal disease. Because of the dynamic global epidemiology of meningococcal disease, it is important to protect against as many serogroups as possible, and from the earliest age possible.”
MenACWY-CRM is a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugated vaccine that has been developed to protect all age-groups from infancy through adulthood, as well as high-risk groups, against four of the five disease-causing serogroups of the bacterium that causes meningitis: A, C, Y, and W-135. Licensed quadrivalent polysaccharide vaccines against these four serogroups do not confer long-term protection and are poorly immunogenic, even in the short term, among children younger than 2, Dr. Halperin said. Monovalent serogroup C conjugate meningococcal vaccines are available for infants and young children, but the only quadrivalent conjugated meningococcal vaccine available (Menactra) is not approved for use in children younger than 2.
Dr. Halperin reported findings in 175 infants who received either two doses of MenACWY-CRM at ages 6 and 12 months, one dose at 12 months, or meningococcal C conjugate vaccine (MenC, menjugate) vaccination at 12 months and MenACWY-CRM at 18 months. Participants were matched between groups receiving MenACWY-CRM at ages 6 and 12 months and at 12 months only. After two doses of MenACWY-CRM, the percentages of infants who achieved human (complement) serum bactericidal assay titer of 1:4 or greater were 100% for serogroups C, W-135, and Y, and 86% for serogroup A, Dr. Halperin noted. High levels of immune response were also observed in the group receiving one dose.
After two doses of MenACWY-CRM, serogroup C geometric mean titers were 10 times higher than those with MenC vaccination at age 12 months, and comparable after single doses of MenACWY-CRM or MenC at 12 months. Injection-site reactions after MenACWY-CRM administered at 6 or 12 months occurred in 22% to 45% of participants and were similar after two doses of MenACWY-CRM or one dose of MenC. The frequency of systemic reactions was also similar between vaccination groups.
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—Jill Stein
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