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news.Novartis Vaccines said that its investigational, four component, Meningococcal Serogroup B Vaccine (4CMenB) killed the majority of a collection of geographically and genetically diverse meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) strains.
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To define the potential coverage of 4CMenB against circulating MenB strains, the research investigators examined the characteristics of a collection of 124 MenB strains using pooled sera from immunised adults, and 57 strains using pooled sera from immunised infants.
The data demonstrated that 85% of the tested strains were killed by pooled sera of adults vaccinated with 4CMenB, as measured by serum bactericidal assay (SBA). SBA is an established and validated correlate of protection.
Additionally, the vaccine performed well in infants who are most at risk of MenB disease and 74% of strains were killed using pooled sera from infants vaccinated with 4CMenB.
In addition to the vaccine coverage results, a subsequent analysis of a new predictive model, ‘Meningococcal Antigen Typing System’ (MATS), against the tested MenB strains, supported the potential benefits of a multi-component vaccine.
In addition, when one or two antigens were detected to be present on any MenB strain, 85 and 94% of the time were killed.
Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Division head Andrin Oswald said that these important findings support our innovative approach using multiple novel components in a single vaccine to provide broad coverage against the deadly and unpredictable MenB disease.
"Novartis is committed to developing a MenB vaccine that protects all age groups who are at highest risk of contracting often deadly MenB disease, especially infants and young children," Oswald said.