Merck Sprints Toward Late 2020 Filing For Pneumococcal Vaccine V114

Company Is Catching Up With Pfizer’s Planned Q4 Submission Of 20vPnC

09 Sep 2020

Merck’s 15-valent vaccine candidate was non-inferior to Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 in a Phase III study and provided superior protection against serotype 3, a frequent cause of invasive pneumococcal disease.

group of cyclist at professional race — Merck is racing ahead with a competitor to Prevnar 13 and Pfizer's 20-valent vaccine candidate • Source: Shutterstock

Merck & Co., Inc. reported results from two additional Phase III studies of its 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine V114 on 9 September and revealed that it is sprinting toward the finish line with plans to file for approval, starting with the US Food and Drug Administration, before the end of this year.

That means that Merck & Co. is neck-and-neck with Pfizer Inc. in the race to bring a next-generation pneumococcal vaccine to market