British laboratory GSK announced on Monday that it had obtained the green light from the European Commission to extend the use of its vaccine against the virus responsible for bronchiolitis to all adults, a vaccine previously authorized only for the elderly.
The Arexvy vaccine, against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which causes bronchiolitis, is currently approved for adults aged 60 and over, as well as for people aged 50 to 59 who are at increased risk of contracting an RSV-related illness.
"The updated indication now allows European countries to make the vaccine available to all adults aged 18 and over," GSK said in a statement.
In the European Union, 158,000 adults aged 18 and over are hospitalized each year due to RSV infections, the pharmaceutical group points out.
In healthy individuals, the symptoms of an RSV infection, which affects the lungs and airways, are usually mild and disappear within a week.
However, RSV can cause serious illness or even death in vulnerable individuals, including premature infants and newborns, children with chronic lung disease or congenital heart disease, and people over the age of 65.
Contagious, RSV affects approximately 64 million people of all ages worldwide each year and causes 160,000 deaths annually, according to the U.S. Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease Research.
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