GlaxoSmithKline announced that its pediatric combination vaccine, PEDIARIX(TM) [Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis Adsorbed, Hepatitis B (Recombinant) and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine Combined], is now available. PEDIARIX, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2002, is the first U.S.-licensed vaccine to offer protection against five serious diseases simultaneously, reducing the total number of shots infants receive by up to six. With more than four million births every year in this country, the use of PEDIARIX could spare infants as many as 24 million injections per year.

The current childhood immunization schedule calls for approximately twenty injections in the first two years of life and, with the development and introduction of new vaccines, that number will continue to increase. By reducing the number of shots, combination vaccines help facilitate the addition of new immunizations into the crowded pediatric immunization schedule, help reduce costs for parents and physicians and may reduce the number of office visits.

Internet Wire January 9, 2003