MeNZB™: a safe and highly immunogenic tailor-made vaccine against the New Zealand Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B disease epidemic strain

Clinical studies have been conducted in New Zealand evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of an outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccine, MeNZB™, developed to control epidemic disease caused by group B meningococci, subtype P1.7b,4. MeNZB™, administered in a three-dose regimen, was well tolerated and induced a seroresponse, defined as a four-fold rise (≥titre 8) in serum bactericidal antibodies against the vaccine strain 4–6 weeks after the third vaccination, in 96% (95% confidence interval (CI): 79–100%) of adults, 76% (95% CI: 72–80%) of children, 75% (95% CI: 69–80%) of toddlers and 74% (95% CI: 67–80%) of infants receiving MeNZB™. In conclusion, these findings suggest that MeNZB™ is safe and is likely to confer protection against systemic group B meningococcal disease caused by the epidemic strain.