Korea MSD announced on the 1st that it will focus on developing age-appropriate vaccines for infants, children, and adults.
Jo Jae-yong, executive director of Korea MSD's vaccine division, said this during a conference marking the first anniversary of the launch of the 15-valent (PCV15) pneumococcal vaccine "Bakxneuvance" held at the Coreana Cosmetics Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Pneumococcus is the leading cause of pneumonia. Each year, 22,000 people die from pneumonia in South Korea, with infants and the elderly particularly vulnerable due to weakened immune systems. Vaccination is a method that can prevent this.
As global pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Merck (MSD), have successively released 15-valent and 20-valent vaccines following the 13-valent vaccine, competition in the pneumococcal vaccine market has intensified recently, and MSD plans to implement an age-appropriate strategy.
MSD's Bakxneuvance is a product that adds two newly identified serotypes "22F" and "33F," which are identified as causing major pneumococcal diseases worldwide, to the existing 13 serotypes of pneumococcal vaccines. It was included in the National Immunization Program (NIP) targeting children after receiving approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2023, with vaccinations starting in earnest in April of last year.
Executive Jo noted, "There are types of vaccines needed for adults, and there are vaccines required for children or infants," and added, "We will develop them in a customized manner, distinguishing between pediatric vaccines and infant vaccines." He explained that, while there may be a strategy targeting both children and infants with one type of vaccine, Korea MSD concluded that customized development is more suitable based on past experiences and clinical data.
Experts emphasize the importance of vaccination in infants. According to data from 2023, about 50% of domestic patients treated for pneumococcal pneumonia were children under 5 years old.
Park Soo-eun, a professor of pediatrics at Yangsan Busan National University Hospital, said, "Pneumococcus causes bacteremia, bacterial meningitis, and pneumonia, and is one of the pathogens that cause child mortality," adding that, "The introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine into the NIP has significantly reduced cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) compared to before, but there is still a considerable proportion of patients occurring in those under 1 year old."
Pneumococcus is a major cause of bacterial otitis media, affecting more than 80% of children. Invasive pneumococcal disease, where pneumococci invade the blood and meninges, has a high incidence rate in children under 1 year old, with about half of all cases occurring in the first year of life in children under 5 years old. It is known that approximately two-thirds of pneumococcal meningitis cases occur in the first year of life, with a case fatality rate of 5-15%.
Professor Park noted that after the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine in South Korea, the incidence rate of invasive pneumococcal infections per 100,000 people from 2014 to 2023 was 13.5 for children under 5 years old, and while the rates were lower for older age groups, the rate for those 65 and older increased to 32.1, emphasizing the importance of vaccination.
He emphasized, "In particular, South Korea has a high rate of antibiotic resistance," adding that, "A 2019 survey showed that the sensitivity to oral antibiotics was only 62.8%, and to injectable antibiotics it was 70.8%, so it is important not to get sick."