Britain backs Novartis' meningitis B vaccine

Britain plans to introduce Novartis' meningitis B vaccine into their routine vaccination program.

The UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) recommended children from age two should be given the Bexsero vaccine because infants are at the greatest risk.

"MenB disproportionately affects babies and young children and can be devastating," Professor Andrew Pollard, chairman of the JCVI and professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, told BBC News.

Meningitis B, or "MenB", is a bacterial infection that can be fatal within the first 24 hours.

About 1,870 people contract meningitis B each year and one in 10 dies. The bacterial infection causes inflammations of the brain and spinal cord, and cause brain damage, limb loss or other irreversible effects in one in four cases. Around 700,000 infants will be eligible for the vaccine each year.

The JCVI said the vaccine was effective in preventing meningitis B, but in previous years had just been too costly.

Novartis is currently reorganizing its business, cutting its small-scale factions like animal health and over-the-counter drugs, so the Bexsero vaccine is crucial to their survival, reports Reuters. The Basel-based company is struggling to keep up with its GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Merck competitors who, unlike Novartis, haven't reported a full year of operating losses in 2013.

The Bexsero jab is believed to be the only vaccine to protect against the virus, and it won European approval last year. BBC News notes that it is effective against 73 percent of the different strains of the disease, and will be extremely beneficial to the overall population.

"Routine use of the MenB vaccine is expected to make an important contribution to the health of our population," Pollard said.

The UK committee hopes Bexsero will be available free on Britain's National Health Service as early as this summer.