SGS and Bavarian Nordic developing challenge strain to combat respiratory virus

[October 12, 2017] ZURICH (Reuters) - SGS and Bavarian Nordic are teaming up to develop a virus challenge strain to combat a common respiratory illness.

The companies aim to develop the respiratory syncytial virus challenge strain in order to help advance progress towards a universal vaccine against the virus, SGS said in a statement on Thursday.

RSV is a significant cause of respiratory illness in all agegroups, and is the most common cause of lower respiratorytract infections in children worldwide, resulting in a high number of hospitalizations.

SGS cited WHO estimates which said RSV infects more than 64 million people globally each year and causes a similar number of deaths to those caused by influenza.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, editing by John Revill)

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