FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s influential vaccine advisory panel said on Thursday all infants in the country should receive AstraZeneca and Sanofi’s antibody therapy to protect them against the common respiratory infection RSV.
The recommendation regardless of risk factors is another boost for the product, which has seen strong U.S. demand well above supplies during the first winter there.
The panel of independent experts known as STIKO is widely followed by family doctors in Germany, Europe’s largest pharmaceutical market.
A study by U.S. public health agency CDC showed in March that Beyfortus, part of a category known as passive immunisation, was 90% effective in protecting infants from RSV related hospitalizations.
The therapy won approval in Europe to protect infants in November 2022 and in the United States in July 2023.
STIKO added it would need more data before it could issue a view on Pfizer’s rival RSV vaccine Abrysvo, which is given to pregnant women to protect their babies.
The use of Beyfortus in the elderly would also require further assessment, it said.
(Reporting by Patricia Weiss; Writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
