The U. S. Food and Drug Administration today extended an official approval to Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine for infants and young children ages 6 weeks through 5 years.

It is a new version of a blockbuster vaccine that fights pneumonia, meningitis and other diseases caused by pneumococcus bacteria, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The vaccine Prevnar 13 is reported to be the successor to Prevnar, the pneumococcal 7-valent conjugate vaccine licensed by the FDA in 2000 to avoid invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and otitis media.

The new vaccine has its protection sphere to six additional types of the disease-causing bacteria.

It was the most vital experimental product the company fetched in last year's purchase of Wyeth. The vaccine is revealed to combat 13 strains of streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

Prevnar 13 post-vaccination antibody response in comparison to Prevnar is reported to be evaluated by several immunological measures. An evaluation of all these measures depicted that Prevnar 13 induced antibodies that were in par to those shown to be protective in Prevnar.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Robert Hazlett has estimated sales for the Prevnar franchise will hit $3.7 billion in 2012.