Helixtalk - Rosalind Franklin University's College Of Pharmacy Podcast

In this episode, we briefly review RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) infections and focus on new data supporting the use of two different RSV vaccines (Abrysvo and Arvexy) in preventing RSV infections in older adults and in pregnant women. Key Concepts RSV is a contagious respiratory virus that is usually mild and self-limiting in most patients but can cause severe disease especially in young children or older adults with certain risk factors. The FDA recently approved two vaccines for RSV (Abrysvo from Pfizer and Arexvy from GSK). The initial FDA approval was for adults 60 years of age and older; however, the FDA recently granted an additional indication for Abrysvo for pregnant women (to prevent the infant from severe RSV infection once born). When studied in older adults, both vaccines did meet efficacy criteria but the incidence of RSV infection was relatively low and thus the number needed to treat (NNT) is high. Both studies were done at times with lower RSV prevalence - the NNT would likely be more fa