The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

(PCVX)—With [PFE’s Prevanr-20] the big advantage is a 1-vaccine schedule vs. 2 vaccines if I'm understanding it correctly.

True, but I should explain what this means for the benefit of those who don’t follow this area closely.

PFE’s existing Prevnar-13 vaccine is a single-shot product, but many patients take both Prenvar-13 and MRK’s Pneumovax (with a suitable waiting period in between) to benefit from Pneumovax’s wider serotype coverage. However, with Prevnar-20’s additional seven serotypes compared to Prevnar-13, there will no longer be an impetus for Prevar-20 patients to take a second vaccine, so the standard-of-care will become a one-shot regimen. (This is less clear for MRK’s V114, which covers only 15 serotypes.)

[PVCX’s] VAX-24 will cover 4 additional serotypes compared to [Prevnar-20]: 2, 9N, 17F, 20.

Some of these serotypes may have relevance to only he pediatric market segment, or to only to the adult market segment. (Note that PFE and MRK are conducting separate phase-3 programs for the two market segments.) Thus, the additional four serotypes of VAX-24 compared to Prevnar-20 may be a misleading stat if VAX-24 has, say (for the sake of discussion), two additional serotypes relevant to the pediatric segment and two relevant to the adult segment.

What I can say for sure is that PVCX will need to run separate phase-3 programs (ideally using Prevnar-20, as the comparator) for the pediatric and adult market segments if they want to maximize VAX-24’s commercial potential. This kind of development and commercialization project is better suited to a large drug/biotech company, so I presume that PCVX will seek a partner if the phase-2 data are satisfactory.