A monoclonal antibody has been used to protect infants against RSV for more than twenty years. Palivizumab, which is very expensive, but has been reserved since 1999 for children at very high risk of severe RSV bronchiolitis; children under 2 years of age who have required treatment for bronchopulmonary dysplasia within the past six months, or who have severe congenital heart disease.
It is delivered by painful intramuscular injection every month during the winter season, and so experts are eagerly awaiting the results of a large European trial with another monoclonal antibody, nirsevimab, which the European Medicines Agency recommended for marketing authorization in September. This study could lead to the marketing of this treatment, which requires only an injection, from 2023…
Source: Le Figaro
