Breaking with tradition

Posted: 29/10/2009

The vaccine market has evolved rapidly in the past decade. Marcel Thalen, of SynCo Bio Partners, looks at the changes from a manufacturer's perspective

From the very start of mass vaccination in the 1950s, the vaccine market has been dominated by pediatric vaccines, with the primary aim of protecting against infant mortality. This arm of biotechnology was characterised by low growth and low profit margins, but since the late 1980s the situation has changed.

The main drivers for change were the development of acellular pertussis vaccines and conjugate vaccines, which can be seen as new, improved vaccines to fight the same diseases. The added value, especially for conjugate vaccines, was that these offered much longer protection than polysaccharide vaccines, or fewer side-effects, as in the case of the acellular pertussis vaccines.

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