Novartis MenB meningitis vaccine protects infants

ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis AG's MenB vaccine showed potential to give broad protection to infants against meningococcal B infections in a mid-stage study, the Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday.

Results from the Phase II trial, presented at the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases meeting in Austria, showed a series of three immunizations with MenB starting at two months of age produced a protective immune response.

The meningococcal B strain causes 72 percent of meningitis infections in Europe.

(Reporting by Sam Cage, editing by Will Waterman)