Novartis to market new vaccine for Japanese encephalitis
pharmafile | June 28, 2006 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Novartis has licensed the marketing rights to a phase III vaccine from Intercell for Japanese encephalitis virus infections.
The vaccine IC51 received orphan status from the European regulatory agency earlier this year and could be a great step forward in tackling the disease, which affects 30,000 to 50,000 people in Asia every year.
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a viral disease transmitted by mosquito bites, and in around one out of every 200 cases, the illness progresses to inflammation of the brain, with more than half of those cases resulting in permanent disability or death.
It is most prevalent in Asia and although uncommon, can be contracted by tourists and short-term visitors. IC51 will complement the company's list of vaccines for travellers to endemic countries.
Novartis will make an equity investment in Intercell of up to 30 million euros, which gives the company the first rights to certain existing candidate products derived from Intercell's technology, and also milestone payments related to IC51 for final phase III data, as well as US and EU regulatory approvals, which are expected to be granted in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
UK company Acambis is developing a rival vaccine for the disease called ChimeriVax-JE which has just completed enrolment for phase III trials, with submission in India and Australia in 2007.
Sanofi-Aventis Pasteur MSD already markets a vaccine for the disease, but safety issues and the need for annual vaccinations of this product mean the newer vaccines are likely to seize the majority of the market once launched, with peak sales forecasts at around $120 million for both vaccines.
Analysts Merrill Lynch say they expect ChimeriVax-JE to capture 75% of the market share of vaccinated civilian travellers, but that Intercell will capture 100% of US military vaccinations.
