The US meningococcal vaccines market is expected to grow over the forecast period due to the introduction of pentavalent vaccines from late 2023 onwards. The introduction of these products could improve protection against disease caused by serogroup B if uptake matches the higher coverage rates observed with the booster dose of MenACWY in adolescents (60.8% in 2022) versus the suboptimal coverage rates with MenB vaccines (29.4% of 17-year-olds reported having received at least one MenB dose in 2022). The pentavalent vaccines could be more convenient for physicians and patients as they would reduce the total number of doses required during adolescence from four (two MenACWY + two MenB) to three (two primary doses plus a booster). 

The five major European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) are expected to experience weak growth over the forecast period because pentavalent vaccines have much less appeal within the EU. Indeed, unlike the US market, none of the five major European markets routinely recommend MenACWY and MenB vaccination in adolescents, meaning that the introduction of pentavalent vaccines would necessitate increased costs and add further complexity to immunization schedules, therefore the vaccines would be unlikely to be routinely reimbursed if approved. While Spanish recommendations for routine use of MenACWY vaccines in adolescents aged 12 years and one-off catch-up vaccination for adolescents aged 13–18 years will drive a short-term increase in sales, weak growth in other markets will be dependent on incremental increases in vaccination coverage rates (primarily for Bexsero and MenACWY in Italy). Sanofi is also hoping that countries will switch from monovalent serogroup C vaccines to MenQuadfi in toddlers, but the case for that is somewhat mixed. 

This Datamonitor Healthcare report contains a Disease Analysis module.