The US Food and Drug Administration approved the expansion of the world largest pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc best selling Prevnar 13 vaccine for use in preventing pneumococcal disease in adults age 50 and above.

The Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 protects and fights against 13 strains of pneumococcal bacteria that cause meningitis, pneumonia and ear infections.

In the United States, Prevnar 13, which had been approved for children and is one of the biggest brands of US, based company Pfizer and according to the company, an expanded population of adults could make annual sales of more than $1.5 billion.

The USFDA said that nearly 300,000 adults 50 or older in the country in that older age group hospitalized every year because of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Official of USFDA, Dr Karen Midthun said that the pneumococcal disease is an extensive reason of illness and death and this approval provides an additional vaccine for stopping pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive disease in this age group.

In a statement, the Pfizer’s chairman and CEO Ian Read said that the FDA approval of its vaccine for adults offers the potential to contribute to the health of millions of aging Americans.

Pfizer’s Prevnar first approved in 2000, is a vaccine that contains pneumococcal bacteria bound to a protein, and the adding of the protein helps the body’s immune system make out the bacteria particularly in babies.

Pfizer said that its vaccine also has received approval for adults 50 and older in the different countries around the world, which includes Australia, Mexico, EU and more than 10 other countries.

The USFDA said that under the conditions for approval the company Pfizer must perform a study to confirm that its drug can really stop pneumococcal pneumonia in adult people, not just cause the body to produce antibodies that typically used as a surrogate in clinical trials.

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