Lagos — GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceuticals have concluded arrangements to hold talks with two meningitis experts from Rixensart, Belgium on meningitis challenges in the African continent.

In a statement signed by deputy account manager, corporate and financial Porter Novelli, Mr. Olalere Ojedokun, the experts are expected to arrive Abuja today, for interaction with key stakeholders.

The team which comprises of director, brand management strep/Neisseria Franchise, Paul Kenny and director, external government affairs and public partnerships, Debbie Myers, will also visit GSK to give an update on the company's heptavalent conjugate meningitis candidate vaccine project.

It would be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and leading public health experts, in 2000, called for the development of conjugate vaccines in order to shift meningitis control away from mmunization campaigns towards a more sustainable and long-term prevention strategy. Until today no combined conjugate meningococcal vaccine has been available to protect infants in Africa against the disease.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has a heptavalent combination conjugate candidate vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Neisseria meningitides serogroups A and C) which has been submitted for a regulatory filing to European Medicines Agency (EMEA) under Article 58. In clinical trials including countries in Africa and Asia, this conjugate meningococcal vaccine has demonstrated a good safety profile and immunogenicity against meningococcal meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A and C in addition to five other major childhood diseases. Under Article 58, the EMEA, in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, gives a scientific opinion on the efficacy, quality and safety of medicinal products intended for use exclusively outside the European Union.

"GSK's long-standing commitment to the developing world is reflected in the development of this Heptavalent candidate vaccine, a vaccine designed specifically to meet a pressing public health threat in Africa," said Jean Stéphenne, President of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

"Using the innovative Article 58 mechanism will expedite the availability of this vaccine to those in greatest need while ensuring it meets the world's most stringent standards for safety and efficacy. This vaccine candidate could be available as early as 2008 and has the potential to break the cycle of meningitis epidemics in Africa. It will provide babies with protection against 7 diseases in a combination vaccine and, administered in the classical Expanded Programme on Immunisation, it will help to simplify logistics and costs." he added.