After Allergan merger halt, vaccines a focus for Pfizer

Kalorama thinks Pfizer will continue to spotlight its vaccine business.

"Continued patent expirations of important pharmaceutical products have also impacted Pfizer's revenues, necessitating an aggressive re-positioning of the company's business, which has resulted in the expansion of its vaccines operation," Kalorama Publisher Bruce Carlson said in a recent blog post.

Pfizer is the world's largest pediatric vaccine company with over 6 billion in revenues, according to Vaccines 2016: World Market Analysis, Key Players, Trends, Pediatric and Adult Segments (Influenza, Cervical Cancer, Combinations, Hepatitis, Pneumococcal, MMR, Varicella, Poliovirus, HIB, Others).

On a global basis, Pfizer employs more than 78,000 people worldwide. In 2015, Pfizer reported total global sales of $48.9 billion, up 6% from the prior year, as the company continues to optimize its operations though the acquisition of complementary businesses and divestiture of operations that no longer fit its core mandate.

Prevnar was FDA-approved for use in children in 2000 in the US, and is now approved in more than four dozen countries. The vaccine — pneumococcal 7-valent conjugate vaccine (diphtheria CRM197 protein containing 4,6B,9V,14,18C,19F, and 23F) — targets the seven serotypes of pneumococcal bacteria most prevalent in the US, which are also among the most resistant to antibiotics and cause 80% of pneumococcal disease in infants. Pfizer has since phased out original Prevnar in favour of Prevnar 13.

In early 2015, Prevnar 13 received an indication expansion in Europe, to include the prevention of pneumonia caused by the 13 pneumococcal serotypes in the vaccine in adults 18 years and older.