A new GSK shingles vaccine candidate is bringing back promising results. | Courtesy of Shutterstock
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Amanda Rupp | Sep 17, 2016

GSK shingles vaccine candidate shows promising results

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) recently stated that its shingles vaccine candidate has been showing strong efficacy against shingles as well as its complications among adults who are 70 years old and above.

The results of the phase III study are available in the New England Journal of Medicine. The randomized trial shows that Shingrix has a 90 percent efficacy against shingles for at least four years.

“This is the first time that such high efficacy has been demonstrated in a vaccine candidate for older people; and it is remarkable, as we know that these people frequently have an age-related weakening of their immune system,” Dr. Emmanuel Hanon, senior vice president of vaccines research and development, GSK, said. “If approved, this candidate vaccine could be an important tool for the prevention of shingles and the pain associated with it, which would significantly impact the health and quality of life of so many people.”

This high efficacy coincides with results from the ZOE-50 trial, which involved people more than 50 years old. Last year, the trial was presented and published with a 97 percent efficacy rating.

Together, the trials show a 91 percent efficacy against shingles.

“These data show that this investigational vaccine maintains high efficacy against herpes zoster in people over 70 and 80 years of age, the age groups who are most affected by the disease,” Anthony Cunningham, executive director of the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Australia and principal investigator of the ZOE-70 study, said. “Importantly, it also prevents a common and feared complication of herpes zoster, prolonged pain, or post herpetic neuralgia in these groups.”

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