AstraZeneca's struggling FluMist loses out on crucial CDC vaccine backing—again

Fierce Pharma ------ Last June, a key CDC vaccines committee stiff-armed AstraZeneca's nasal influenza vaccine based on worries about its effectiveness. Despite the company's efforts to fix things since then, the committee once again advised doctors to eschew FluMist for the upcoming flu season. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has extended its recommendation against FluMist into next season, 2017-2018. The decision will stand “until further data becomes available in October 2017,” according to an AZ spokesperson. Last summer, after reviewing FluMist's low efficacy numbers for the previous three years, the committee made the same determination, forcing AZ to take an $80 million inventory write-down and eliminating the prospect of any meaningful sales in the vaccine’s biggest market. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.