DTaP acellular vaccine for whooping cough data

NVX (Beltsville, Md.) announced further findings of safety and efficacy in the U.S. and Sweden, saying that it intends to file a PLA in the U.S. in the second or third quarter of this year. A Danish study meanwhile shows that combining the DTaP vaccine with a polio vaccine does not interfere with the efficacy of either vaccine.

In a previously reported, Phase III Swedish trial in babies vaccinated at 3, 5, and 12 months of age, the DTaP vaccine was associated with milder disease in those children who did get pertussis (whooping cough), and the disease was of shorter duration. Local reaction at the site of the shot was no different from those children who received a diphtheria-tetanus (DT) vaccine. The data will be presented at a meeting or published, the company told BioCentury. ...