Abstract
Attitudes towards vaccination are changing, as the promise grows of candidate
products in development which have the potential to prevent and treat some of
the major diseases affecting the world' s population today. Immunisation, the
World Health Organization argues, has proved itself: smallpox was eradicated
worldwide in the late 1970s, Europe was declared free of polio at the turn of
the 21st century and, in 2002 alone, an estimated two million lives were saved
by immunisation. Years of disappointment, with vaccines for unmet needs
failing in Phases II and III, are ending as new vaccines begin to reach the
market and more advance through the pipeline.
In 2007, pre-teenage and teenage girls are being vaccinated against HPV, a
known and common cause of cervical cancer, the second-largest cancer killer of
women. In the next few years, approval is expected for vaccinations against
other forms of cancer, including prostate, colon and lung cancers. There are
also advanced candidates for influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and
HIV. Vaccines for rotavirus and meningitis A, diseases that kill vast numbers
of children in the developing world each year, may not be far off and their
development is being supported by public and private funding, in addition to
fast-tracking rulings. Innovation by small biotechnology companies,
financially and commercially supported by strategic alliances with the largest
pharmaceutical companies, has led to the development of the therapeutic
vaccine, which has the potential to treat rather than prevent disease and has
given new hope to the sufferers of cancer, CNS disorders, autoimmune
conditions and asthma, even addiction.
The largest section of the vaccination market is paediatric immunisation. Six
vaccines are routinely given to children as part of their infant immunisation
- these comprise vaccines against tuberculosis (BCG), diphtheria, tetanus,
pertussis, polio (OPV) and measles. However, not all children receive these
immunisations and in some developed countries the number of children being
vaccinated is dropping. These problems must be redressed in order to prevent
the 30,000 deaths which are estimated to take place each day from entirely
vaccine-preventable diseases. Other, newer vaccines are also available and
need to be more widely used, including vaccines against yellow fever, rubella,
hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) disease and Japanese
encephalitis.
Adult vaccination is on the increase and now growing at a faster pace than
paediatric immunisations. This is largely because of the recent emphasis
placed on immunisation against influenza and hepatitis. Children will benefit
from the development of new combination products while everyone will reap the
benefits of alternative routes of delivery to needles.
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