New rotavirus vaccine OKd for U.S. children

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, April, 2008 by Karl Stark Inquirer Staff Writer

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. received U.S. approval yesterday for Rotarix, its new vaccine against rotavirus, which kills hundreds of thousands of children in the developing world. The approval is welcome news for GlaxoSmithKline, which announced worldwide layoffs last year after its second-leading seller, the diabetes drug Avandia, was linked to heart attacks.

But the firm's new vaccine faces stiff competition from Merck & Co. Inc.'s Rotateq, which won approval two years ago and rang up $525 million in sales in 2007. Leonard Friedland, a GlaxoSmithKline senior director in pediatric vaccines research, said his firm's product had an advantage because it could be given in two doses, rather than three for Merck's Rotateq. The smaller number of doses is a convenience for patients...