GSK’s RSV, Shingles Vaccines Show On-par Immune Response in Joint Trial

(Reuters) -British drugmaker GSK said on Wednesday administration of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and shingles shot together generated the same immune response in a late-stage trial as separate adminstration of the vaccines.

The trial testing the immune response of co-administration of GSK’s blockbuster vaccines, Shingrix and Arexvy, in adults over 50 years of age, met the main goal of the study.

The co-administration will help in “reducing the number of visits to the healthcare offices and pharmacies and ultimately help to get ahead of RSV and shingles,” said Len Friedland, managing director and vice president of GSK’s Scientific Affairs and Public Health.

RSV causes over 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths in the United States annually, while over 1 million people develop shingles every year in the country.

GSK, one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, under CEO Emma Walmsley has focussed on vaccines and infectious diseases as a strategy to boost sales and counter patent expiries and declining revenue from current bestselling medicines by the end of this decade.

GSK’s Shingrix and Arexvy, however, missed market expectations for second-quarter sales in July.

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Shinjini Ganguli)