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Pfizer Inc have announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for the company’s 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, marketed in the European Union under the brand name PREVENAR 20, for active immunisation for the prevention of invasive disease, pneumonia and acute otitis media caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in infants, children and adolescents from 6 weeks to less than 18 years of age.
“The EC’s authorisation of PREVENAR 20 for infants and children represents a significant opportunity to improve public health by helping to protect against the 20 serotypes responsible for the majority of currently circulating pneumococcal disease in the EU,” said Alexandre de Germay, Chief International Commercial Officer, Executive Vice President, Pfizer. “PREVENAR 20 builds on Pfizer’s decades-long commitment to develop vaccines to help prevent potentially life-threatening infections, and we are proud to now provide the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for children in Europe.”
This authorisation follows the recent positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). The authorisation is valid in all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. It also follows the approval of PREVNAR 20 for infants and children by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2023, and approvals in several other countries including Canada, Australia and Brazil. Regulatory applications for PREVENAR 20 for the pediatric indication have been submitted to additional countries around the world.
The EC authorisation of PREVENAR 20 is based on evidence from the Phase 3 clinical trial program comprised of four core pediatric studies which helped to expand the data on the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the vaccine. These studies collectively enrolled more than 4,700 infants and 800 toddlers and children of all ages.