Expanded use for Pfizer's Prevnar 13

Following a previous US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommendation (The Pharma Letter November 17, 2011), US drugs behemoth Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine, was approved by the FDA for people aged 50 years and older to prevent pneumonia and invasive disease caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Prevnar, which brought in worldwide sales of some $3.7 billion for the whole of 2010 and $1.01 billion in the third quarter of last year, up 37% on the like 2010 quarter (TPL November 2, 2011) is currently approved for use in children. Pfizer has said that adult use of the vaccine could add revenues of a further $1.5 billion a year. The vaccine may generate $5.9 billion by 2015, with adult use contributing $1.8 billion, said Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold recently quoted by Bloomberg.

Expected to replace Pneumovax as gold standard