Hyderabad, Nov. 20 -- City based leading pharma company Biological E. Limited (BE) on Thursday, November 20, announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted pre-qualification (PQ) status to its 14-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), or PNEUBEVAX 14(R) (BE-PCV-14).

PNEUBEVAX 14 is now BE's 11th WHO pre-qualified vaccine, which has been developed specifically to prevent invasive pneumococcal diseases. According to the company, it protects against infections caused by 14 different streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes (invasive diseases which can also cause brain damage), including serotypes 22F and 33F-two strains not covered by select other PCVs.

The vaccine was administered to infants from six weeks of age as part o...