Health Dictionary
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Twinrix
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Twinrix is a vaccine against hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Twinrix is administered over three doses.
The name was created because it is a mixture of two earlier vaccines – Havrix, an inactivated-virus Hepatitis A vaccine, and ENGERIX-B, a recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine.
The CDC reports that clinical trials found the following levels of protection against Hep A and Hep B one month after each dose[1]:
A: 93.8% 98.8% 99.9%
B: 30.8% 78.2% 98.5%
GlaxoSmithKline claims that its studies found 70% of subjects had antibodies against hepatitis B a month after just the first dose, however.[2]
TWINRIX, HAVRIX and ENGERIX-B are registered trademarks of GlaxoSmithKline; if the same vaccine is available from others, it will have another name.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]