Swissmedic approves new drug for respiratory disease
Published: Thursday, Dec 28th 2023, 12:11
Updated At: Thursday, Dec 28th 2023, 12:11
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The medicines authority Swissmedic has approved a new medicine to treat colds and cases of acute bronchitis in infants and young children. Beyfortus is used to treat respiratory tract diseases caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The step was taken "after careful consideration", Swissmedic announced on Thursday. It is an important step towards prophylaxis against RS viruses - a common cause of respiratory diseases, said a Swissmedic spokesperson when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Pediatricians and children's hospitals in particular have been waiting for the approval. According to the Swiss government, RSV infections in infants in Switzerland lead to around 1000 hospital admissions per year.
Single injection
Beyfortus from the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis is used as a prophylaxis, i.e. it is not a vaccine in the conventional sense. The drug is administered intramuscularly as a single injection. Beyfortus is the second such drug against RS viruses. The product Synagis has been approved in Switzerland since 1999.
RS viruses are common pathogens worldwide and cause many colds in the fall and winter. In newborns and small children, they can lead to pneumonia and hospitalization.
However, they can also cause serious respiratory diseases in older people and people with weakened immune systems and can become dangerous. According to the British pharmaceutical company GSK, the virus causes more than 270,000 hospital admissions and around 20,000 deaths during hospital stays in Europe every year in people aged 60 and over.
Catch-up effect after the pandemic
After the coronavirus pandemic subsided, severe respiratory diseases increased significantly again in many countries around the world. Children's hospitals were sometimes overrun with patients. Experts suspect that this is due to a catch-up effect after the coronavirus pandemic, when comparatively few children came into contact with RSV.
The disease can currently only be treated symptomatically. An RSV infection does not leave any lasting immunity. The virus can therefore re-infect people of any age.
No vaccine against RSV is available in Switzerland. The EU Commission approved the vaccine Arexvy in the summer, and the USA did the same before that. Vaccines against the RS virus had been sought for years. Experts believe that they could generate billions in sales over the next ten years.
©Keystone/SDA
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