GSK awarded WHO prequalification for rotavirus vaccine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has awarded prequalification status to a vaccine protecting against an infection which kills 600,000 children throughout the world every year.

Developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at its biologicals department in Belgium, the vaccine is designed to prevent the spread of rotavirus gastroenteritis and is the first of its kind to receive this preliminary approval from the WHO.

According to GSK, the prequalification enables agencies from the United Nations to buy up large quantities of the vaccine and utilise it in mass programmes across the developing world.

“GSK has a long-standing commitment to combating disease in developing countries,” commented Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals.

The expert added: “We intend to offer the vaccine at tiered prices, with lowest prices reserved for the public sector in the world’s poorest countries.”

A spokesman for the Albert V Sabin Vaccine Institute welcomed the decision as good news for the developing world where 90 per cent of child deaths from the rotavirus infection occur every year.

The Food and Drug Administration in the US approved a RotaTeq vaccine last year for use in children to prevent against the spread of the rotavirus infection.