Cat asked
Does Shingrix contain any soy ingredients? Is it safe for those who have a soy allergy?
At a glance
- Soy beans and associated allergens (e.g. profilin, beta-conglycinin, glycinin, seed biotinylated protein, 2S albumin, and lectin/agglutinin) are not knowingly added or used in the manufacturing process of the Shingrix vaccine.
- However, analytical testing to detect the presence of soy and related allergens in Shingrix has not been done.
Answer
Allergies and sensitivities are a major concern and need to be taken into account in all situations. It can sometimes to difficult to discern whether or not a particular medication is safe, as a complete list of ingredients is not always accessible.
When it comes to Shingrix, the recommended vaccine for shingles, we posted an article recently detailing the complete ingredient list:
- 50 mcg recombinant gE antigen
- 50 mcg MPL
- 50mcg QS-21
- 20 mg sucrose (as a stabilizer)
- 4.385 mg sodium chloride
- 1 mg DOPC
- 0.54 mg potassium dihydrogen phosphate
- 0.25 mg cholesterol
- 0.160 mg sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate
- 0.15 mg disodium phosphate anhydrous
- 0.116 mg dipotassium phosphate
- 0.08 mg polysorbate 80
- Host cell proteins (≤3.0% DNA (≤2.1 picograms) from the manufacturing process
Soy In Shingrix
The prescribing information for Shingrix, unfortunately, does not list any information regarding soy and whether or not it is safe for those with a soy allergy.
We reached out to GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) for additional information regarding the soy content of Shingrix. We received the following response:
