FDA approval for Novartis’ meningitis vaccine, Menveo, expected within the next few months, should represent an important step in the Swiss Pharma giant’s plans to dominate the sector over the next few years, wresting control from its big pharma vaccine competitors, Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline.

Following a positive opinion on Menveo by a European advisory committee in December, approval in Europe is also imminent for the quadrivalent vaccine which protects against four of the five most common serogroups of meningitis (A, C, W-135, Y) and could generate sales over $500m by 2014. Indeed, Novartis is also leading the charge in developing a vaccine against the more problematic fifth serogroup, B, with a European filing for MenB vaccine expected this year. Vaccines is an increasingly important business unit for Novartis, reflected in the fact that Menveo and MenB vaccine are its two most valuable pipeline candidates with a combined NPV of $5.56bn (see tables below).