Antibody injection approved for RSV virus

A new treatment to protect babies against a common and potentially dangerous winter virus has been approved by the UK regulator.

The single antibody injection helps to stop infants getting chest infections such as pneumonia for around six months.

A large study has now commenced to determined whether nirsevimab should now be offered to all babies across the UK.

Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV) is the main reason children under five are admitted to hospital.  Other treatments for the virus already exist and trials of a vaccine have also shown promise.

In a typical winter, RSV predominantly causes coughs and colds which clear up in a couple of weeks, but it can be particularly serious in children under the age of two, causing severe lung problems such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Each year around 29,000 babies need hospital care for RSV, most having had no other health issues beforehand.

The new treatment has already been shown to reduce lower respiratory tract infections caused by the virus by 74.5% in trials involving 4,000 babies.  The treatment works by preventing RSV from fusing to cells in the respiratory tract and causing infections.

Dr Simon Drysdale, co-study leader and consultant paediatrician in infectious diseases at St George’s Hospital in London, said the treatment could eventually be given at birth to offer protection for the first months of life, or during routine immunisations at two months old.

Professor Saul Faust, co-study leader from the University of Southampton, said “We do need the hospitalisation data to make complicated decisions between different technologies available.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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