Pfizer receives WHO prequalification for pneumococcal disease drug

Pfizer has been granted prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its pneumococcal disease vaccine Prevenar 13 to be used as a treatment for infants and children.

The ruling means that Pfizer's drug, a 13-valent adsorbed treatment for preventing invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, has met WHO's standards for quality, safety and efficacy.

Prequalification means that Prevenar 13 can now be procured for use by governments for use in national immunisation programmes, as well as by United Nations agencies such as Unicef.

It will also allow Pfizer to honour the ten-year provisional supply agreement signed as part of the Advance Market Commitment programme earlier this year, which will see the company offer Prevenar 13 to children in poorer countries.

Dr Emilio Emini, chief scientific officer of vaccine research at Pfizer, said: "This is an important step towards our goal of making Prevenar 13, which offers the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, available to infants and young children globally."

Earlier this month Pfizer published its financial report for the second quarter of 2010, during which sales increased by 58 per cent year-on-year thanks to the recent Wyeth merger.