Poster Presentation 25th International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference 2026

A narrative review of evidence on vaccine effectiveness against gonorrhoea by the meningococcal 4CMenB vaccine: a public health value perspective (#100)

Allison Taylor Walker 1 , Anar Andani 2 , Federico Martinon-Torres 3 , Helen Petousis-Harris 4 , Victoria Abbing-Karahagopian 5 , Andrew G Allmon 1 , Alan Kinlaw 1 , Tia Vincent 6 , Zeki Kocaata 2
  1. GSK, Philadelphia, PA, United States
  2. GSK, Wavre, Belgium
  3. Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago De Compostela, Spain
  4. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  5. GSK, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  6. GSK, London, United Kingdom

BACKGROUND

Gonorrhoea poses a growing public health problem. The 4-component meningococcal serotype B vaccine (4CMenB) was developed to protect against meningococcal infections. Recent studies provide data supporting moderate protection of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea. The objectives are to provide a narrative review on vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea and identify key research gaps relevant for public health value.

AIM/METHODS

We reviewed nine published observational studies and four randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on 4CMenB VE against gonorrhoea. We discussed strengths and limitations of the studies and identified additional evidence gaps.

RESULTS

Observational studies were in the populations with varied risk and prior exposure, and showed consistent moderate statistically significant VE. These studies consistently reported a significant protective effect of the vaccine across populations and geographical areas, using diverse study designs which limits consistent directional biases across studies. All RCTs focus on high-risk or very high-risk populations. Existing research gaps include a lack of VE estimates in the gonorrhoea-naïve population and clinical trial data assessing 4CMenB VE in the general population. In addition, data gaps in published studies include effectiveness estimates by infection site and by demographic and behavioural subgroups of interest.

CONCLUSIONS

Results from observational studies show consistent protection of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea across methodologies and geographies. This narrative review highlights the need for future research examining VE of 4CMenB against gonorrhoea in the general population, stratified by prior exposure status, to assess its importance in the VE causal pathway and to ascertain where 4CMenB can be best placed in National Immunisation Programmes for maximum benefit to patients and healthcare systems.

Funding: GSK.

ENCORE of ESPID | 1–5 June 2026 | Bologna.

Acknowledgements: Enovalife Medical Communication Service Center on behalf of GSK (Mary Greenacre provided medical writing support for the original abstract).

Conflict of interest: ATW, AA, VA-K, AGA, AK, TV, ZK: employed by GSK. AA, AGA, ZK: financial equities in GSK. FM-T, HP-H: nothing to report.

Data sharing: Data sharing is not applicable to this abstract as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.