SmithKline Beecham has developed a combination vaccine (InfanrixDTPa®-HepB-IPV) against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and poliovirus. On 19 July 1999, SmithKline Beecham announced that it had submitted a biologics licence application to the US Food and Drug Administration for InfanrixDTPa®-HepB-IPV. If the submission is approved, this vaccine will be the first pentavalent vaccine (targeting 5 diseases) to be licensed in the US, and will reduce from 9 to 3 the number of injections a child should receive in the first year of life to gain protection from diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and polio. More than 20 000 doses of InfanrixDTPa®-HepB-IPV have been administered as a 3-dose series in clinical trials designed to demonstrate that the safety and immunogenicity of the combination vaccine are comparable to those of individual vaccine components given separately.