Following the successful development of vaccinations against numerous viral and bacterial diseases, vaccine research and development (R&D) is now targeting areas of high unmet need, and a number of promising strategies are being investigated for novel preventative and therapeutic vaccinations, according to a new report from business intelligence provider CBR Pharma Insights.

The company’s latest report states that due to existing vaccines already providing effective protection against some of the most serious diseases, including pneumococcal disease, flu, measles, diphtheria and polio, there is now an increased focus on developing preventative vaccinations for adults and against pathogens that affect the developing world.

However, the development of preventative vaccines, particularly in vulnerable populations, generates a number of practical and ethical issues, including the possibility of infecting otherwise healthy individuals with a disease and disallowing concomitant treatment.

Moreover, despite preventative vaccinations being the mainstay of vaccine development and commercialisation in previous years, more attention from big pharma and biotechs alike has recently been placed on therapeutic vaccines.  However, obstacles surrounding the development of therapeutic vaccinations, including the fact that some of these vaccines need to be tailored to the individual, also make this a challenging area, despite its promising commercial potential.

Cancer is currently the major focus for therapeutic vaccination, although this has been marked by several high-profile failures, such as Dendreon’s Provenge and GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) MAGE-A3, which highlight that there are risks and challenges associated with the development of innovative vaccines.

Other obstacles faced by pharmaceutical manufacturers include high vaccine development costs, which result in the premature abandonment of potentially useful products and therefore emphasise the need for more investment in vaccine research, the report states. Indeed, recent developments in the vaccine market, with GSK acquiring Novartis’ vaccine division, may herald a return to big money Merger and Acquisition activity, as companies look to diversify and strengthen their vaccine portfolios in the face of these growing challenges.

Nevertheless, CBR Pharma Insights forecasts that pharmaceutical companies’ renewed focus on overcoming such barriers to develop vaccines that address current unmet needs will help to drive global vaccine sales to approximately $52 billion by 2016.

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