GlaxoSmithKline receives UK and German approval of flu vaccine

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that its innovative four-strain seasonal influenza vaccine Fluarix Tetra has been approved for use in the UK and Germany.

Following a decentralised procedure, Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institut became the first national regulatory authority in Europe to grant marketing authorisation for this quadrivalent vaccine, with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency also endorsing the drug.

It becomes the first four-strain influenza vaccine in Europe for active immunisation of adults and children from three years of age for the prevention of influenza disease caused by two influenza A and two influenza B virus subtypes.

GlaxoSmithKline intends to make the vaccine available in time for the 2013/14 flu season in the UK and Germany, having previously received regulatory approval for the product in the US last December.

This comes after the company announced the commencement of a phase III clinical trial assessing its drug Benlysta as a potential treatment for vasculitis earlier this week.