HQ Team
March 1, 2024: Pfizer Inc., a US pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, announced its single dose of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine would maintain protection from the disease through to a second season.
The efficacy of Abrysvo was 77.8% against lower respiratory tract disease in adults 60 years of age and older, according to a company statement. The efficacy for the first season was 88.9%.
The bivalent vaccine maintained “consistently high protective efficacy for both ASV A and RSV B disease” through two seasons after a single dose.
A bivalent vaccine stimulates an immune response against two different antigens, such as different viruses or other microorganisms.
Protection levels
“We are encouraged by the level of protection that we observed after two full RSV seasons for Abrysvo,” said Annaliesa Anderson, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer.
“This new data indicates that broad and durable protection against both types of RSV that cause disease, RSV A and RSV B, is the potential benefit to having a bivalent vaccine.”
Pfizer intends to submit these data to regulatory authorities and vaccine technical committees. The company also intends to publish these findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and share them at an upcoming scientific congress.
The virus can affect the lungs and breathing passages of an infected individual and can potentially cause severe illness in young infants, older adults, and individuals with certain chronic medical conditions.
In the US alone, among older adults, RSV infections account for approximately 60,000-160,000 hospitalisations and 6,000-13,000 deaths each year.
The respiratory syncytial virus causes RSV disease. There are two major subgroups of RSV — RSV A and RSV B. Both subgroups cause disease and can co-circulate or alternate predominance from season to season.
In August 2023, Pfizer announced that the European Medicines Agency granted marketing authorisation for Abyss for older adults and maternal immunisation to help protect infants.
