An expert panel under the health ministry has endorsed a nasal influenza vaccine for children between the ages of 2 to 18, paving the way for the first-ever approval of a nasal spray vaccine in Japan.
Based on the results of a clinical trial involving children in Japan, the panel agreed on Monday that the vaccine FluMist Quadrivalent is safe and effective in preventing the flu. The ministry is expected to approve the vaccine by around late March.
FluMist is a live attenuated vaccine that contains four flu strains, according to AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine. In 2015, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant entered a licensing agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, through which the latter has the rights to develop and sell the product in Japan.