Chiron's Rabies Vaccine OKed In USA

Chiron Corp and Behring have revealed that their joint-venture humanrabies vaccine, RabAvert, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in pre-exposure vaccination and as a prophylaxis after exposure to rabies. This is the first new rabies vaccine to receive marketing clearance in the USA in almost 10 years, according to the company.

Chiron says that 16 million doses of RabAvert have already been administered in 29 countries since 1985 for both post-exposure prophylaxis and pre-exposure vaccination. None of the patients who were given the vaccine following exposure to rabies have gone on to develop the disease, it adds.

Furthermore, in clinical trials, no cases of rabies were seen in 203 patients followed up for 10 months. Side effects were usually localized and easily controlled, and included pain and swelling of the injection site.