Biotech Values

[mcbio]

In clinical studies, a monoclonal antibody that targets the antigenic site II (i.e., palivizumab) has been shown to be highly effective at preventing RSV disease. In fact, palivizumab (trade name Synagis(R)) has been approved in multiple countries for years to prevent RSV disease in pre-mature infants.

One question I want to add is, if Synagis is highly effective at preventing RSV disease, why is there a need for a new RSV vaccine? I read separately that Synagis isn't technically a vaccine but the point is it's apparently highly effective at preventing RSV, at least in high-risk infants, so where is the room for improvement here? Is it simply a matter of Synagis being limited to high-risk infants and a new RSV vaccine being able to be targeted to a broader patient population where for whatever reason Synagis does not work?