Safety, Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of Heat-stable Rotavirus Vaccine (HSRV) in Adults and Infants

Rotaviruses are the leading cause of severe, dehydrating diarrhoea and related deaths in children aged less than 5 years worldwide and are reported to infect nearly every child by the age of 5 years. About 90% of all rotavirus-associated fatalities occur in low income countries in Africa and Asia and are related to poor health care. In view of high global RVGE burden, the World Health Organization (WHO) on 5th June 2009, recommended the inclusion of rotavirus vaccine in all the national immunization programs. Currently available rotavirus vaccines, RotaTeq® and Rotarix®, are WHO prequalified vaccines which are stable for recommended duration at storage temperature between 2-8 °C. However, if these vaccine are exposed to temperatures above 30 °C, the vaccine has to be discarded due to lost potency. It is very difficult to maintain the cold chain required to conserve the vaccine potency particularly in developing and low income countries, resulting in large amount of vaccine being wasted and in worst case scenario, endangering the lives of potential recipients. The WHO estimates that nearly half of freeze-dried and quarter of liquid vaccines are wasted each year. One of the biggest contributors to this wastage is disruption of the cold chain systems. Hilleman Labs new Rotavirus vaccine is a lyophilized heat stable rotavirus vaccine comprising of five live attenuated reassortant rotaviruses similar to RotaTeq®. The new heat stable rotavirus vaccine (HSRV) formulation offers a stability profile of 9 months at 45 °C and 12 months at 37 °C. This new heat stable formulation (HSRV) could be transported in non-refrigerated supply chain significantly reducing the cost and complications associated with transporting vaccine to remote corners of the developing world. Heat-stable rotavirus vaccine (HSRV) has a potential to sustain high temperatures frequently encountered in regions where majority of rotavirus burden exists and has potential to partially or completely eliminate