The pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Thursday, August 25, positive results in the elderly for its vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), against which there is currently no authorized vaccine.
This virus is responsible for bronchiolitis, a respiratory disease that mainly affects infants, but it can also be dangerous for the elderly, who can, for example, develop pneumonia.
“An important step”
More than 177,000 elderly people are hospitalized each year in the United States because of an RSV infection, and about 14,000 die from it, according to American health authorities.
The vaccine has been tested on people aged 60 and over in a clinical trial that is still ongoing.
According to a preliminary analysis, it was found to be about 85% effective in preventing severe cases (three or more symptoms).
Pfizer said it plans to file an application for authorization with the United States Medicines Agency (FDA) and other regulatory agencies around the world "
in the coming months
".
"
Scientists and researchers have been working to develop RSV vaccines without much success for more than half a century
," said Annaliesa Anderson, chief scientist for vaccine development at Pfizer, in a statement.
“
These results are an important step in our efforts to help protect against RSV.
»
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The vaccine was well tolerated and did not raise any safety concerns, according to the company, which indicated that these results would be submitted for publication in a scientific journal.
About 37,000 participants have already been recruited for the clinical trial, which should have a total of 40,000.
Half of the people receive the vaccine, which targets two strains of the virus (RSV A and B), and the others a placebo.
Other companies, including Moderna, are also working on the development of an RSV vaccine.
