Posted by Michael Wonder on 23 Oct 2017
GSK wins U.S. shingles vaccine approval, UK nod for gene therapy
23 October 2017 - GlaxoSmithKline has won U.S. approval for a new and improved shingles vaccine, the second of three key products for which the British drugmaker expects approval this year.
It also secured a recommendation from UK cost authorities for a $700,000 gene therapy for so-called "bubble boy" disease -- a step forward for the field of fixing faulty genes but a tiny sales opportunity. Only three patients have received the gene therapy commercially since its May 2016 approval in Europe.
The green light for GSK's shingles shot Shingrix, which has proved significantly better than Merck & Co's Zostavax in clinical trials, is an important vindication of GSK's product pipeline. The news was announced late on Friday.
