Novartis and Crucell co-developed vaccine wins contracts

Crucell has been awarded contracts in excess of $230 million (116.8 million pounds) for its Hepavax-Gene and Quinvaxem paediatric vaccines, the second co-developed by Novartis. The contracts are with supranational organisations for the three years up to 2009.

Quinvaxem is a fully-liquid pentavalent vaccine that is produced by Crucell in South Korea. Using combined antigens, the vaccine protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b, the latter being a primary factor in the development of pneumonia and bacterial meningitis in young children.

The company reports that worldwide demand for the vaccine currently exceeds 50 million doses, with total market potential being 150 million doses a year in three to four years time.

Dr Ronal HP Brus, chief executive officer of Crucell, said: “Quinvaxem is the first internationally available fully-liquid vaccine containing these five life-saving antigens and it will make a significant contribution to children’s vaccination programs in the developing world.”

In June, Novartis announced an agreement for the acquisition of the marketing and distribution rights for IC51 to expand its late-stage vaccines pipeline.

The compound is a vaccine for the prevention of infection with the Japanese encephalitis virus that is in phase III clinical trials.