Pfizer and Merck have each won FDA approvals in the past year for new pneumococcal vaccines, but GSK aims to top both of them with its $2.1 billion acquisition of Affinivax. That biotech’s Phase 3-ready vaccine candidate addresses more bacterial strains than any pneumococcal vaccines currently available.
Vaccine biotech Inventprise has developed technology that offers broader protection than currently available products. Its lead program, a pneumococcal vaccine candidate, is being readied for tests in humans and it now has a financial commitment of up to $90 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Vaxneuvance, a Merck pneumococcal vaccine, is now approved by the FDA. The intramuscular shot protects against 15 pneumococcal strains—five fewer than the 20 covered by a Pfizer pneumococcal vaccine that the FDA approved in June.
The FDA has approved Prevnar 20, a Pfizer vaccine that protects against 20 pneumococcal strains—seven more than the company’s blockbuster Prevnar 13. But others are on the big pharma company’s heels with vaccine candidates that aim to match or even beat the Pfizer pneumococcal vaccines.