Superiority of cell-based flu vaccine revealed in RWE study

Biotech News: Vaccines stand as the primary strategy to mitigate the considerable morbidity, mortality, and economic burden associated with influenza. At present, the National Immunisation Program (NIP) refrains from favouring any particular influenza vaccine, be it CSL Seqirus’ cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIVc), Flucelvax Quad, or the egg-based quadrivalent influenza vaccines (QIVe) such as Sanofi’s Vaxigrip Tetra and GSK’s Fluarix Tetra.

CSL Seqirus has unveiled new efficacy findings from a real-world evidence (RWE) investigation of Flucelvax Quad. The study suggests that QIVc is superior in efficacy compared to QIVe in preventing influenza. Spanning three consecutive seasons and involving an average of 33,000 participants, the study constitutes the largest available dataset for assessing test-confirmed outcomes between QIVc and QIVe.

Alicia Stein, Director of Real World Evidence at CSL Seqirus’ Centre for Outcomes Research and Epidemiology, underscored the significance of RWE in unravelling the efficacy of influenza vaccines.

“This study exemplifies the value of RWE in generating valuable insights into the effectiveness of influenza vaccines. With data collected over three consecutive seasons, our study suggests higher vaccine effectiveness of cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccines compared with standard egg-based influenza vaccines,” noted Stein.

The findings demonstrate a higher relative effectiveness of QIVc over QIVe in preventing test-confirmed influenza, with estimated relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of 14.8% for the 2017–18 season, 12.5% for 2018–19, and 10.0% for 2019–20. The term rVE denotes the effectiveness of one vaccine relative to another.

Gregg Sylvester, Chief Health Officer and Head of Medical Affairs at CSL Seqirus, emphasised the advantages of cell-based technology in delivering a precise antigenic match to the strains identified by the World Health Organization (WHO), thereby enhancing vaccine efficacy compared to standard egg-based vaccines.

“These data build on the growing evidence of real-world data that shows the benefits of our cell-based influenza vaccine,” remarked Sylvester.

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