(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc on Friday pronounced U.S. regulators had authorized wider use of a Prevnar 13 vaccine to forestall infections with pneumococcal bacteria, for children and teenagers aged 6 years to 17 years.
The product was already authorized in a United States to forestall infections among children aged 6 weeks by 5 years. It is also authorized for adults aged 50 and older.
The vaccine protects opposite infection with 13 strains of a Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium. The micro-organism can means pneumonia, ear infections and other problems.
Prevnar 13 has annual sales of about $3.5 billion, creation it Pfizer’s third-biggest brand. It was authorized in 2010, and has mostly replaced an comparison vaccine called Prevnar, that stable opposite usually 7 prevalent strains of a bacterium.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)
