Two of Sanofi Pasteur’s vaccines have made it onto Time magazine’s list of the 10 most important medical breakthroughs of 2009.
The firm’s HIV vaccine came in second place. The magazine highlighted that trials of its effectiveness yielded “reasonable” results, with an infection prevention rate of 31%.
However, it added that the implications of this are important: “Given that no other inoculation has shown any effect against the AIDS virus, it was reason to celebrate – cautiously.”
In fourth place was Sanofi Pasteur’s H1N1 vaccine, for which demand outstripped supply when it was launched last year. The publication highlighted that, in some areas, “there was not enough vaccine even to cover members of priority groups”.
Another pharmaceutical product to make it onto the list was Amgen’s denosumab at number 8, an innovative treatment for Alzheimer’s disease currently under review by the FDA.
Other breakthroughs listed included the lifting of the funding ban on stem-cell research, prostate cancer screening, new autism research that highlighted variations in DNA and studies into brown fat in adults.