The vaccine is co-developed with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics and has been manufactured to prevent a number of childhood diseases.
Following the awarding of licensure by the Korea Food and Drug Administration in March 2006, WHO prequalification is a final prerequisite for the combination vaccine to be made available to supranational organizations. Supranational organizations are major customers for combination vaccines, which are used in mass vaccination programs in developing countries.
Crucell has already commenced production of Quinvaxem at the facility of its Korean subsidiary.
“We believe this vaccine will make an important contribution to pediatric vaccination programs for the developing world,” said Crucell's CEO, Dr Ronald Brus.
Crucell said it expects Quinvaxem to become an important contributor to the company's 2006 revenue forecast.
Quinvaxem is used for protection against five important childhood diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type b, one of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis in children.
Quinvaxem is the first internationally available fully-liquid vaccine to combat all five of these childhood diseases, offering a major advantage in terms of convenience of use.