Meningitis vaccines
A new Prevnar, plus new vaccines from Novartis and GSK
Established meningitis vaccines may lose market share to their successors beginning next year, when a fresh crop of multivalent
vaccines is expected to hit the market.
Candidates by Wyeth and Novartis are expected to become at least $2 billion opportunities, according to Datamonitor's Holger
Rovini.
Wyeth's Prevnar family of vaccines protect against pneumococcal serotypes that cause a variety of infections including blood infections and
meningitis. The original Prevnar worked against seven serotypes. The new version, PNCRM13, also known as Prevnar 13v, targets those seven plus six more, including 19A, which is especially important in Asia. An additional
indication is being sought for vaccinating the elderly. Rovini cited data that indicate vaccinating the very young can reduce
the incidence of pneumococcal infections in the elderly, because vaccinated children do not infect their caregivers.
Synflorix, a 10-valent vaccine, excludes serotype 19A but adds non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae. The GSK drug could reach peak sales
of $600–700 million.
Menveo could reap upwards of $2 billion for Novartis, according to Datamonitor. It competes with Sanofi-Pasteur's Menactra. Rovini
notes that clinical data released by Novartis make Menveo appear superior, but the endpoints chosen may not prove any advantage
over Menactra in terms of real-world benefits.
Pain
Breakthrough NSAIDS
PIlls can be slow and relatively ineffective (to say nothing of addictive), and self-injection is a problem for many patients.
As a result, too many post-operative patients spend extra days in the hospital. Rox 888, Roxro's new nasally delivered formulation of the NSAID keterolac solves both of those problems. Rox 888 is fast acting and
has proven as effective as intramuscular injections of keterolac in the control of abdominal and orthopedic post-surgical
pain.
Holger Rovini
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"This is a drug that can be easily administered in a home environment," says Neil Singla, MD, of Lotus Clinical Research in
Pasadena, CA. "That's a huge advantage."
Meanwhile NiCox, a French company with an attractive nitric oxide–contributing technology has received positive Phase III
results on its naproxcinod—which hit all its end points without detrimental effects to patient blood pressure. At a time when chronic pain meds are
increasingly under fire for cardiac side effects, naproxcinod and the class of drugs coming up behind it could become major
players.
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