Sanofi Pasteur Korea said its four-strain influenza vaccine VaxigripTetra, for six-month-old children and older, would be effective to prevent influenza in the upcoming flu season.

The drugmaker obtained an expanded indication from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the quadrivalent vaccine to be used on infants aged six months or older, instead of the children aged 36 months or older as in the past.

The expanded indication is valid from September, the start of the flu season.

Sanofi Pasteur Korea held a news conference at the President Hotel in central Seoul on Wednesday to introduce global clinical data that proved the effectiveness in preventing influenza.

According to the data, 5,400 children aged between six months and 35 months administered with VaxigripTetra had a 68.4 percent preventive effect against influenza caused by a virus strain similar to the vaccine.

VaxigripTetra protects against influenza caused by the four types of virus strains -- two A strains and two B strains. Compared with a trivalent flu vaccine, VaxigripTetra’s immunogenicity was non-inferior to the three strains and superior to the added B strain, Sanofi Pasteur said.

“VaxigripTetra’s immunogenicity and safety have been confirmed in a global trial on 12,600 people, as well as in a local study. Other flu vaccines did not undergo a domestic trial,” said Seo Han-seok, medical lead at Sanofi Pasteur Korea.

Under an assumption that people had used quadrivalent vaccines instead of trivalent ones, Europe would have reduced flu incidence by 1.6 million cases, 37,000 hospital visits, and 15,000 deaths, the company said.

The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency recommend a four-strain influenza vaccine, rather than a three-strain one.