Mer­ck touts up­dat­ed 21-va­lent pneu­mo­coc­cal da­ta weeks ahead of FDA de­ci­sion: Cor­rect­ed

Mer­ck bol­stered its pneu­mo­coc­cal vac­cine da­ta on Mon­day, as the com­pa­ny looks to one-up Pfiz­er’s Pre­vnar 20 shot.

Mer­ck said that its new con­ju­gate vac­cine, called V116, proved non­in­fe­ri­or to its much old­er Pneu­movax 23 vac­cine for all 12 strains com­mon to both vac­cines. Pneu­movax 23 is a 23-va­lent poly­sac­cha­ride vac­cine ap­proved in 1982. More mod­ern “con­ju­gat­ed” vac­cines are de­signed to work bet­ter in younger chil­dren and po­ten­tial­ly last longer.

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