Pfizer on Thursday announced positive results in the elderly for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.
There is currently no licensed vaccine against this infection.
This virus is responsible for bronchiolitis, a respiratory disease that mainly affects infants.
But RSV can also be dangerous for the elderly, who can develop pneumonia.
More than 177,000 seniors are hospitalized each year in the United States due to RSV infection.
About 14,000 die from it, according to US health authorities.
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Pfizer's vaccine has been tested on people 60 and older in a clinical trial that is still ongoing.
It has so far proven to be about 85% effective in preventing severe cases (three or more symptoms).
Pfizer plans to apply for approval from the US Medicines Agency (FDA) and other regulatory agencies “in the coming months”.
"Scientists and researchers have worked to develop RSV vaccines without much success for more than half a century," said Annaliesa Anderson, chief scientist for vaccine development at Pfizer.
“These results are an important step in our efforts to help protect against RSV.
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The vaccine was well tolerated and raised no safety issues.
Pfizer specifies that these results would be submitted for publication in a scientific journal.
About 37,000 participants have already been recruited for the clinical trial, which should have a total of 40,000.
Half of the people receive the vaccine, which targets two strains of the virus, and the others a placebo.
Other companies (including Moderna) are also working on the development of an RSV vaccine.
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Vaccine
Pfizer-BioNTech
Virus
The elderly
Sickness
Vaccination
Health