FDA green light for Penbraya, first pentavalent vaccine for meningitis

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Penbraya (meningococcal groups A, B, C, W and Y vaccine), the first and only pentavalent vaccine that provides coverage against the five most common serogroups causing meningococcal disease in adolescents and young adults aged 10 through 25 years.

Developed by US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Penbraya combines the components from two meningococcal vaccines, Trumenba (meningococcal group B vaccine) and Nimenrix (meningococcal groups A, C, W-135, and Y conjugate vaccine).

Besides Pfizer, the UK’s GSK’s (LSE: GSK) Bexsero has competed with Trumenba for the meningococcal B vaccine market. GSK also makes Menveo, a vaccine against meningococcal groups A, C, W-135 and Y. French drugmaker Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) separately markets its own MenACWY vaccines called Menactra and MenQuadfi.