Immunosuppressive therapies, including irradiation, antimetabolites, alkylating agents, cytotoxic drugs, and corticosteroids (used in greater than physiologic doses), may reduce the immune response to ROTARIX. [See Warnings and Precautions (5.3).]
USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Category C
Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with ROTARIX. It is also not known whether ROTARIX can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity.
Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness of ROTARIX in infants younger than 6 weeks or older than 24 weeks of age have not been evaluated.
The effectiveness of ROTARIX in pre-term infants has not been established. Safety data are available in pre-term infants (ROTARIX = 134, placebo = 120) with a reported gestational age 36 weeks. These pre-term infants were followed for serious adverse events up to 30 to
90 days after dose 2. Serious adverse events were observed in 5.2% of recipients of ROTARIX as compared with 5.0% of placebo recipients. No deaths or cases of intussusception were reported in this population.
Ingredients
ROTARIX (Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral), for oral administration, is a live, attenuated rotavirus vaccine derived from the human 89-12 strain which belongs to G1P[8] type. The rotavirus strain is propagated on Vero cells. After reconstitution, the final formulation (1 mL) contains at least 106.0 median Cell Culture Infective Dose (CCID50) of live, attenuated rotavirus.
The lyophilized vaccine contains amino acids, dextran, Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), sorbitol, and sucrose. DMEM contains the following ingredients: sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, ferric (III) nitrate, sodium phosphate, sodium pyruvate, D-glucose, concentrated vitamin solution, L-cystine, L-tyrosine, amino acids solution, L-glutamine, calcium chloride, sodium hydrogenocarbonate, and phenol red.
In the manufacturing process, porcine-derived materials are used. Porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV-1) is present in ROTARIX. PCV-1 is not known to cause disease in humans.
The liquid diluent contains calcium carbonate, sterile water, and xanthan. The diluent includes an antacid component (calcium carbonate) to protect the vaccine during passage through the stomach and prevent its inactivation due to the acidic environment of the stomach.
