GlaxoSmithKline shingles vaccine gets approval in Canada

Canadian health regulators have approved GlaxoSmithKline’s key shingles vaccine, the company said on Friday.

Shingrix, the British pharma company’s shingles vaccine for people aged 50 years or older, was unanimously recommended for approval by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel last week.

Older people are most at risk of an outbreak of shingles, a painful, often debilitating blistering rash.

Shingles is the result of reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and remains latent in those who have had that disease.