Pfizer paediatric vaccine shows efficacy in trial

Pfizer has published phase III trial results demonstrating the efficacy of Prevenar 13, its paediatric treatment for pneumococcal disease.

According to the study’s findings, child patients who have received at least three doses of Pfizer’s previous Prevenar vaccine tolerated the new drug well, with the treatment demonstrating immunogenicity.

In addition, it was also shown that Prevenar 13 is likely to be more effective than the previous drug against serotypes 6A and 19A, two prevalent strains which cause invasive disease among paediatric patients.

The vaccine is designed to provide protection against 13 serotypes in total, including six which were not part of the original Prevenar formulation.

Dr Emilio Emini, chief scientific officer for vaccine research at Pfizer, said: “These data further suggest the importance of providing direct coverage against the 13 most common pneumococcal disease-causing serotypes worldwide.”

Earlier this week, the pharmaceutical company published data from a new trial of the heart disease drug Lipitor, demonstrating its efficacy among high-risk patient groups.