full screenFDA has approved a new drug by Astra Zeneca. Archive image. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT
The American pharmaceutical authority FDA approves Astra Zeneca’s and French Sanofi’s drug nirsevimab, several media reports. The medicine is a preventive treatment against the virus that causes the respiratory tract infection bronchiolitis in infants.
Bronchiolitis is an infection of the lower respiratory tract in children aged 0-2 years that is normally mild, but in some cases can make infants seriously ill. The RS virus, which is common during the winter months, causes 70-90 percent of cases of bronchiolitis.
According to Astra Zeneca and Sanofi, the drug is the first to prevent serious disease caused by the RS virus in all infants.
At the beginning of November last year, the European Commission approved the drug.