The safety and effectiveness of VAXELIS in older children through 4 years of age are supported by evidence in younger children. The safety and effectiveness of VAXELIS in infants less than 6 weeks of age and in children and adolescents 5 through 17 years of age have not been established.
VAXELIS (Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis, Inactivated Poliovirus, Haemophilus b Conjugate and Hepatitis B Vaccine) is a sterile suspension for intramuscular injection.
Each 0.5 mL dose is formulated to contain 15 Lf diphtheria toxoid, 5 Lf tetanus toxoid, acellular pertussis antigens [20 mcg detoxified pertussis toxin (PT), 20 mcg filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), 3 mcg pertactin (PRN), 5 mcg fimbriae types 2 and 3 (FIM)], inactivated polioviruses [29 D-antigen units (DU) Type 1 (Mahoney), 7 DU Type 2 (MEF-1), 26 DU Type 3 (Saukett)], 3 mcg polyribosylribitol phosphate (PRP) of H. influenzae type b covalently bound to 50 mcg of the outer membrane protein complex (OMPC) of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, and 10 mcg hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Each 0.5 mL dose contains 319 mcg aluminum from aluminum salts used as adjuvants.
Other ingredients per 0.5 mL dose include <0.0056% polysorbate 80 and the following residuals from the manufacturing process: ≤14 mcg formaldehyde, ≤50 ng glutaraldehyde, ≤50 ng bovine serum albumin, <5 ng of neomycin, <200 ng streptomycin sulfate, <25 ng polymyxin B sulfate, ≤0.125 μg ammonium thiocyanate and ≤0.1 mcg yeast protein (maximum 1% relative to HBsAg protein).
Corynebacterium diphtheriae is grown in modified Mueller's growth medium. (3) After purification by ammonium sulfate fractionation, the diphtheria toxin is detoxified with formaldehyde and diafiltered.
Clostridium tetani is grown in modified Mueller-Miller casamino acid medium without beef heart infusion. (4) Tetanus toxin is detoxified with formaldehyde and purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation and diafiltration. Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids are individually adsorbed onto aluminum phosphate.
The acellular pertussis vaccine antigens are produced from Bordetella pertussis cultures grown in Stainer-Scholte medium (5) modified by the addition of casamino acids and dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin. PT, FHA and PRN are isolated separately from the supernatant culture medium. FIM are extracted and copurified from the bacterial cells. The pertussis antigens are purified by sequential filtration, salt-precipitation, ultrafiltration and chromatography. PT is detoxified with glutaraldehyde. FHA is treated with formaldehyde and the residual aldehydes are removed by ultrafiltration. The individual antigens are adsorbed separately onto aluminum phosphate.
The Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 polioviruses are individually grown in Vero cells. The viral harvests are concentrated and purified, then inactivated with formaldehyde to produce monovalent suspensions of each serotype. Specified quantities of monovalent suspensions of each serotype are mixed to produce the trivalent poliovirus concentrate.
The HBsAg antigen is harvested and purified from fermentation cultures of a recombinant strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing the gene for the adw subtype of HBsAg. The recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae is grown in a fermentation medium which consists of an extract of yeast, soy peptone, dextrose, amino acids, and mineral salts. The HBsAg protein is released from the yeast cells by cell disruption and purified by a series of physical and chemical methods which includes ion and hydrophobic chromatography, and diafiltration. The purified protein is treated in phosphate buffer with formaldehyde and then co-precipitated with alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) to form bulk vaccine adjuvanted with amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate.
The purified PRP of H. influenzae type b (Haemophilus b, Ross strain) is conjugated to an OMPC of the B11 strain of N. meningitidis serogroup B. H. influenzae type b is grown in a fermentation medium which includes an extract of yeast, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, hemin chloride, soy peptone, dextrose, and mineral salts. The PRP is purified from the culture broth by purification procedures which include ethanol fractionation, enzyme digestion, phenol extraction and diafiltration. N. meningitidis serogroup B is grown in a fermentation medium which includes an extract of yeast, amino acids and mineral salts. The OMPC is purified by detergent extraction, ultracentrifugation, diafiltration and sterile filtration. PRP is conjugated to OMPC by chemical coupling and the PRP-OMPC is then adsorbed onto an amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate adjuvant.
The adsorbed diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis antigens are combined with aluminum phosphate (as adjuvant) and water for injection into an intermediate concentrate. The individual HBsAg and PRP-OMPC adjuvanted bulks are added followed by the trivalent poliovirus concentrate, to produce VAXELIS.
Both diphtheria and tetanus toxoids induce at least 2 neutralizing units per mL of serum in the guinea pig potency test. The potency of the acellular pertussis antigens is evaluated by the antibody response of immunized mice to detoxified PT, FHA, PRN and FIM as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The immunogenicity of the inactivated polioviruses is evaluated by the antibody response in rats measured by virus neutralization. The potency of the HBsAg component is measured relative to a standard by an in vitro immunoassay. The potency of the PRP-OMPC component is measured by quantitating the polysaccharide concentration using an HPLC method.
VAXELIS does not contain a preservative. The vial stopper, syringe plunger stopper, and syringe tip cap are not made with natural rubber latex.