Novartis granted approval for meningitis B vaccine to hand over to GSK

Novartis has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the large-scale development of a new vaccine designed to prevent people from succumbing to the potentially life-threatening infection meningitis B.

Prior to this, the US has only had injections available for four out of the five main strains of the disease – A, C, Y and W.

Novartis' new drug is entitled Bexsero and is primarily designed for ten to 25-year-olds.

Now that the vaccine has been granted approval for development, Novartis will be handing it over to fellow pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as part of an asset swap.

GSK told its shareholders last year: "The addition of Bexsero, a new vaccine for the prevention of meningitis B, will strengthen GSK's position in one of the fastest-growing segments of the vaccines market."

Bexsero has been in experimental stages for a number of years, but with Trumenba – a similar drug from Pfizer – entering the market in October, it faces some competition.