Novartis has high hopes for vaccine candidate
The Cambridge office of Swiss drug maker Novartis AG has released encouraging preliminary results for an experimental meningitis vaccine - a vaccine that could be used to treat infants as well as children.
(At right, Novartis offices in Cambridge.)
In a clinical test, Novartis, which has about 2,000 employees in Massachusetts, compared its drug candidate Menveo against a vaccine already on the market called Menactra.
According to Novartis, its test data showed that Menveo produced "a greater immune response" in adolescents 11 to 18 years of age compared to Menactra.
Menveo might also be used to treat infants, an at-risk group for the disease.
The vaccine is designed to treat meningococcal disease, a leading cause of bacterial meningitis, "a rare but contagious and potentially life-threatening infection," Novartis said in a press release. "Infants and adolescents have the highest rates of disease, which can be fatal. Each year, approximately 1,400 to 2,800 cases of disease occur in the US, and about 10-14 percent of patients die. The currently available vaccines are not licensed for use in infants."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
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