Varivax Description

Active Ingredients: VARIVAX Refrigerated, when reconstituted as directed, is a sterile preparation for subcutaneous administration. Each 0.5 mL dose contains: a minimum of 1350 PFU (plaque forming units) of Oka/Merck varicella virus when reconstituted and stored at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Chemistry: VARIVAX Refrigerated is a lyophilized preparation of the Oka/Merck strain of live, attenuated varicella virus. The virus was initially obtained from a child with wild-type varicella, then introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures, adapted to and propagated in embryonic guinea pig cell cultures and finally propagated in human diploid cell cultures (WI-38). Further passage of the virus for varicella vaccine was performed at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) in human diploid cell cultures (MRC-5) that were free of adventitious agents. This live, attenuated varicella vaccine is a lyophilized preparation containing sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, processed gelatin, and urea as stabilizers.
Excipients/Inactive Ingredients: Each 0.5 mL dose contains: approximately 17 mg of sucrose, 8.3 mg of hydrolyzed gelatin, 3.5 mg of urea, 2.1 mg of sodium chloride, 0.33 mg of monosodium L-glutamate, 0.30 mg of sodium phosphate dibasic, 53 mcg of potassium phosphate monobasic, 53 mcg of potassium chloride. The product also contains residual components of MRC-5 cells and trace quantities of neomycin and bovine calf serum from MRC-5 culture media. The product contains no preservative.