GSK pulls LYMErix on lackluster sales

GlaxoSmithKline has decided to withdraw its vaccine to combat Lymedisease from the market, saying that it is no longer commercially feasible to keep the product available because of its low sales. LYMErix is the only approved vaccine for the prevention of the tick-borne disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is endemic to areas of northeast USA and causes symptoms such as fatigue, fever and joint pain, sometimes leading to heart disease and serious arthritis.

Sales of LYMErix are thought to have been held back by concerns over the vaccine's safety. Shortly after its launch in the USA in 1998, a year in which it posted sales of $40 million and was received by more than 100,000 people, the product suffered from reports of an arthritis-like syndrome which some claimed was associated with the vaccine (Marketletters passim).

Many of the symptoms were similar to those of Lyme disease itself, and the US Food and Drug Administration, with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, implemented an investigation of the product. This recently concluded that no link had been identified, allowing GSK to keep its product on the market.