Trust participation in respiratory research study helps reduce infant admissions to hospital

Medway NHS Foundation Trust is one of five trusts across Kent, Surrey and Sussex who took part in the Hospitalized RSV Monoclonal Antibody Prevention (HARMONIE) study last winter. Our Neonatal Research Team recruited 66 babies over the course of the study.

Open to newborns, and babies up to 12 months old, the study looked at how strongly babies can be protected from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), by giving them a single dose of nirsevimab – a monoclonal antibody immunisation.

Respiratory syncytial virus can cause some lung infections, which for most people this will be a mild case. However, in some babies it can mean they need to be admitted to hospital and some could die from the infection especially if they have other health conditions.

The trial’s results show giving a single dose of nirsevimab reduced the need for babies to be admitted to hospital by 83 per cent. This means instead of 10 children who would have been admitted only two were.

In total more than 8000 children were enrolled at 250 hospitals across France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Studies also found infants given the dose of nirsevimab reduced chest infections caused by other viruses resulting in hospital admissions being halved. In addition, the study showed the drug was safe to be administered.

Dr Aung Soe, Medway NHS Foundation Trust’s Consultant Neonatologist and Neonatal Speciality Lead for National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, said: “Undertaking research here at the Trust is vitally important to us. We would like to thank all the babies and parents who have kindly participated in this important research study, as well as our research colleagues who recruited them.

“Thanks to them being part of research, it means there will be benefits to all children in the future.”

To find out more, or to get involved in research at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, please contact the Trust’s Research Team at medwayft.researchenquiries@nhs.net.