("=Wyeth: Rwanda Using Prevenar In Immunization Program,"
published at 3:07 p.m. EDT, incorrectly described Wyeth's vaccine
Prevenar in the fourth paragraph. The correct version follows:)
The Rwandan government will launch the first national
immunization program against pneumococcal disease in a developing
country Thursday.
The African country plans to administer Wyeth Inc.'s (WYE)
vaccine Prevenar to nearly all Rwandan children less than a year
old by the end of 2009, and to all Rwandan infants on a routine
basis after that.
Prevenar is included in the national immunization programs of 35
high- and middle-income countries, including 25 in Europe, the
Middle East and Africa.
Prevenar is the European version of Wyeth's blockbuster U.S.
vaccine Prevnar. Pneumococcal disease, which can cause such
potentially life-threatening illnesses as pneumonia, meningitis and
sepsis, is the leading vaccine-preventable killer of children
younger than 5 worldwide.
Wyeth donated more than three million doses of Prevenar to
Rwanda and the Gambia through the GAVI Alliance, a partnership that
includes the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the World Bank
and is funded by donor countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
"If fully rolled out in GAVI countries, the pneumococcal vaccine
could save the lives of more than 440,000 children by 2015," said
GAVI Chief Executive Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt.
The U.S. Agency for International Development and WHO are
helping the Rwandan Ministry of Health administer the program.
Wyeth's shares recently traded at $42.18, down 0.9%. Pfizer Inc.
(PFE), the world's largest pharmaceutical company, has agreed to
acquire Wyeth in a deal intially valued at $68 billion.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975;
Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com