CDC votes for continued use of FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine in USA

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has voted in favor of a renewed recommendation for the use FluMist Quadrivalent (influenza vaccine live, intranasal) in the US for the 2018-2019 season, says Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN).

The vote is a reversal of a decision in 2016, when agency advised doctors not to use the nasal spray citing data that demonstrated it was not effective at preventing influenza. It also comes at a time that the USA is facing the most severe flu season in decades. Last year FluMist generated sales of just $78 million for AstraZeneca, with no revenues in the USA.

The recommendation follows the presentation of positive results from a US study in children between the ages of 2 to <4 years evaluating the shedding and antibody responses of the H1N1 strain in the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV)/ FluMist Quadrivalent.