Even with early and appropriate
treatment, between 10% and 14% of meningitis cases are fatal,
typically within 24 to 48 hours[4],[5]. For those who survive, as
many as 19% suffer serious long-term consequences such as deafness,
neurological damage or limb loss.
Because invasive meningococcal disease can progress so rapidly, high
levels of circulating antibodies are critical for protection. Immune
memory typically takes up to five days to develop, so there often is
not enough time for immune memory to mount a protective response[3].
Five serogroups cause the majority of meningococcal disease
worldwide: A, B, C, W-135 and Y[1]. Distribution of serogroups
varies widely from geographic region to region and changes over
time. In the US, the prevalence of serogroup Y has increased over
the last few years (from 9% of reported cases in 1990-92 to 39% in
2006)[3]. Serogroups B and C are predominant in Europe. While Asia
has primarily seen serogroup A, recent outbreaks of serogroup C have
been noted. The dynamic and unpredictable nature of meningococcal
disease epidemiology warrants a vaccine that offers broad serogroup
protection[6].
For more information, please visit www.meningitis.com.
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be
identified by terminology such as "expected," "will," "can,"
"dedicated," "potential," or similar expressions, or by express or
implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals for
Menveo or regarding potential future revenues from Menveo. You should
not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking
statements reflect the current views of management regarding future
events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause actual results with Menveo to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee
that Menveo will be approved for sale in any market. Nor can there be
any guarantee that Menveo will achieve any particular levels of
revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations
regarding Menveo could be affected by, among other things, unexpected
regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally,
including an unexpected inability to meet the requirements of the
FDA: unexpected clinical trial results, including unexpected new
clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical
data; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other
proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general;
government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact
that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the
Novartis Group's assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group's
consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to
in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated,
believed, estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the
information in this press release as of this date and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
About Novartis
Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics is a division of Novartis focused
on the development of preventive treatments. The division has two
businesses: Novartis Vaccines and Chiron.
