Refrigerator-stable FluMist more convenient, as effective as frozen.(News)

San Francisco -- An experimental refrigerator-stable formulation of the live attenuated influenza vaccine marketed as FluMist was comparable to the approved frozen formulation in a phase III trial presented in a poster at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.

Dr. Stan L. Block reported that the two intranasal FluMist formulations demonstrated equivalent immunogenicity against three influenza strains (two type A and one type B). Seroresponse rates and reactogenicity events were comparable in the randomized, double-blind study.

Diarrhea, upper abdominal pain, and nausea were the most frequently reported adverse events. All occurred in less …