NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Chinese regulators have approved Pfizer Inc’s blockbuster vaccine Prevenar 13, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday, a breakthrough for the firm after it was forced to shut its vaccine business in China last year.

Prevenar – one of Pfizer’s top selling products – is used primarily for infants to help prevent pneumococcal disease, a bacterial infection that can lead to illnesses such as pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis.

Pfizer shuttered its China vaccines business after a license for an earlier version of Prevenar was not renewed in 2015. Foreign drugmakers face growing difficulties obtaining approvals for medicines in China, the world’s No. 2 drug market.