Which Vaccines Are Used For Protection Against Pertussis?

Pertussis is a respiratory illness that has serious outcomes and occurs in all age groups but is more deadly in infants (less than a year in age). It is also called as whooping cough and is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis.

Pertussis is very contagious and can lead to uncontainable coughing, thus making it difficult to breathe. After the cough fits diminish in intensity, the patient takes deep breaths that make a ‘whooping’ sound.

People highly at risks of developing serious outcomes from pertussis include:

• Babies.
• Pregnant women.
• People with weakened immune systems.
• Close contacts of a known case.
• Elderly.
• People with waning immunity.

Pertussis vaccines provide effective protection against the illness. People vaccinated by pertussis vaccines have not shown any severe side effects. The few side effects that do occur however, are usually mild and do not affect any daily activity. 

Acellular vaccines and whole-cell vaccines are the two types of pertussis vaccines. These vaccines have an efficacy of 71-85% and 78%, respectively. After the vaccination, the effectiveness decreases by 2-10% per year where it is observed to decrease more rapidly for acellular vaccines.

Pertussis Vaccines presently circulating in the Treatment Market

• Quattrovac – Astellas.
• DTP – Sanofi Pasteur.
• Pentacel – Sanofi Pasteur.
• DTaP/DT – Serum Institute of India.
• Pediarix – GlaxoSmithKline.
• DTaP(Infanrix and Daptacel) – Sanofi Pasteur.
• Kinrix – GlaxoSmithKline.
• Vaxelis – Merck & Co; Sanofi Pasteur.
• HexyonTM/Hexacima – Sanofi Pasteur.
• Quadracel – Sanofi Pasteur.
• Tribik – BIKEN; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation.
• Tetrabik – Biken Co. Ltd.
• Boostrix and Adacel – Sanofi Pasteur.
• TDaP – Sanofi Pasteur.

Post-exposure Treatment of Pertussis includes drugs like:

• Clarithromycin.
• Erythromycin.
• Co-trimoxazole.
• Azithromycin.

Although there has been a rise in pertussis cases in recent years, the death rate has significantly declined (excluding infants) due to the availability of vaccines. In the coming years, potential pertussis vaccines like DTcP Infant and Booster, DTacP, BK1310/ MT-2355, SIIPL Tdap, BPZE1, and many others will further improve the pertussis treatment landscape.

Source: Pertussis Treatment Landscape – Types of Vaccines, and Key Companies, Be DelveInsight.