GSK has begun shipping quadrivalent vaccine doses to US healthcare providers, following licensing and lot-release approval from the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. It is the first company to ship quadrivalent vaccine for the 2016-17 flu season.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends flu vaccination as the single best measure for flu prevention. The CDC has a routine recommendation for Americans over the age of six months to get a flu vaccination each year as the first and most important step in protecting against this disease.1,2 GSK's flu vaccines are indicated for use in persons three years and older.
"Our goal is to be a reliable partner in the annual flu immunization campaign by developing and manufacturing high quality quadrivalent influenza vaccines for the US population," said Patrick Desbiens, Senior Vice President, US Vaccines. "This year we introduced new functionality to our eCommerce platform, to allow those who stock and administer our vaccines to further accelerate delivery of their flu vaccines when they order directly from us. We believe this enhancement supports healthcare providers by helping to ensure that their patients have access to the vaccines they need."
Two different options of the four-strain vaccines will be available to customers. FLULAVAL® QUADRIVALENT comes in a 5-mL, multidose vial containing 10 doses (0.5mL each), while FLUARIX® QUADRIVALENT comes in a 0.5-mL, single-dose, prefilled syringe.
GSK expects to supply up to 40 million doses across both vaccines for the US market in the 2016-17 season. One hundred percent of GSK supply is quadrivalent doses.