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New
GlaxoSmithKline vaccine to combat Rotavirus menace in Sri Lanka
Rotarix
to help combat acute diarrhoea which afflicts most children under
the age of 5
Rotavirus
gastroenteritis, an infection that afflicts virtually every child
in the world within the first five years of life and accounts for
up to half the hospitalisations due to diarrhoea, can now be prevented
in Sri Lanka with the launch in December 2007 of Rotarix an oral
two-dose vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals,
one of the world’s leading manufacturers of vaccines.
Already licensed in over 100 countries and launched in 61 of them
where some 14 million doses have been distributed, Rotarix has shown
up to 100 per cent efficacy in protecting infants against severe
rotavirus gastroenteritis in clinical studies involving over 70,000
infants, its manufacturer told medical professionals at the formal
launch of the vaccine in Colombo last week.
In Europe, where Rotarix was approved in February 2006 for vaccination
of infants from the age of six weeks, the vaccine has prevented
96 per cent of hospitalisations due to rotavirus gastroenteritis
(RVGE) and reduced the need for medical attention by 84 per cent.
The vaccine is now included in the national immunisation programmes
of USA, Australia, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela
and Luxembourg. The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand were the
first Asian countries to license Rotarix.
“The arrival of this vaccine in our country will be a source
of great relief to parents of children under the age of five, said
Stuart Chapman, Managing Director of GSK (Pharmaceuticals) in Sri
Lanka. “About 90 per cent of the 611,000 deaths of children
annually due to rotavirus gastroenteritis occur in Asia and Africa,
and it is time that steps are taken to protect our infants from
this disease.”
In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that about 1000 children under the
age of five die as a result of diarrhoea every year. Of these deaths,
about 250 or 25 per cent are caused by rotavirus, a highly contagious
strain of virus that can survive in the environment for hours on
hands and for days on solid surfaces. Twenty eight per cent of cases
of rotavirus gastroenteritis occur in infants below five months
and 43 per cent of cases in babies between six and 11 months. Addressing
participants at the launch of Rotarix in Colombo, Professor Lulu
Bravo, Vice Chancellor for Research and Executive Director of the
University of Philippines, Manila said the World Health Organisation
(WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI)
had made the development of Rotavirus vaccine a top priority. Citing
extensive research data she said:
“Two
doses of RSX 4414 have been shown to be highly effective in protecting
infants against RVGE in different geographic settings.”
Rotavirus gastroenteritis manifests itself with symptoms that include
vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and abdominal pain. The fever and vomiting
can last up to nine days, but the diarrhoea can last for up to three
weeks. Rotavirus-induced diarrhoea carries a greater risk of dehydration
than childhood diarrhoea caused by other infections. Globally, 25
to 55 per cent of children under the age of five hospitalised with
acute diarrhoea are infected with rotavirus.
The first live attenuated oral human rotavirus vaccine available
to children in Asia, Rotarix provides immunity by mimicking natural
rotavirus infection. Just two doses of the vaccine administered
within the first six months of life (the first at six weeks and
the second before 24 weeks) provide sustained protection against
rotavirus gastroenteritis. Rotarix can be administered with other
infant vaccinations without impairing the immune response to any
of the co-administered antigens. The vaccine has been shown to be
heat-stable, with no variation in its immunogenicity after exposure
of seven days at 37°C making it suitable for mass vaccination
programmes.
One of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and
health care companies, GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com) has been present
in Sri Lanka for more than 50 years and is the country’s leading
pharmaceuticals and vaccines company. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals
(GSK Bio) is the centre of all GlaxoSmithKline’s activities
in the field of vaccine research, development and production. In
2006, GSK Bio distributed more than 1.1 billion doses of vaccines
to 169 countries in both the developed and the developing world
– an average of 3 million doses a day. Of those vaccine doses,
approximately 136 million were doses of combination paediatric vaccines
which protect the world’s children against up to six diseases
in one vaccine.
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