The US government is set to receive an additional 230,000 doses of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) injection for infants, Beyfortus (nirsevimab-alip), from Sanofi and AstraZeneca in January 2024.
A long-acting monoclonal antibody, Beyfortus offers protection against severe RSV disease.
The Beyfortus injection will be supplied in 50mg and 100mg doses.
The latest development comes after senior US officials alerted manufacturers and their partners to the vaccine requirement to meet market demand during the winter season.
Following these talks, the manufacturers agreed to supply the additional vaccine doses. The development comes after the government held talks with Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Thermo Fisher to speed up work to meet demand.
A White House media statement said: “The meeting follows several in-person and virtual meetings […] to ensure manufacturers are identifying every opportunity to make more RSV immunisations for infants available.
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“Also in the meeting, senior administration officials and manufacturers continued conversations on the importance of pro-actively planning to increase availability and meet projected demand for the 2024 to 2025 viral season.”
Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the release of more than 77,000 doses of 100mg Beyfortus.
The CDC noted that these doses will be supplied to physicians and hospitals immediately under the Vaccines for Children Program as well as commercial networks.
Commenting on the new supply deal, Sanofi stated: “This would bring the first season to an immunisation rate of nearly 40%, which greatly surpasses prior launches of a paediatric immunisation and represents a total of 1.4 million babies offered protection against RSV, a 27% increase over the initial supply forecast for the season.”
Due to the high demand for Beyfortus, Sanofi and AstraZeneca will bolster the drug manufacturing network by collaborating with stakeholders in the immunisation community.
The companies will also launch a process in February 2024 for supporting providers and will carry out additional planning for the 2024 to 2025 RSV season.
