Pfizer’s RSV vaccine just won an FDA panel’s backing for safety in older people. It's a market that will be worth up to $10 billion in a decade

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Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus received backing from a panel of US advisers for its safety and effectiveness in people 60 and older, a key endorsement that brings the drugmaker closer to the market for prevention of the lung infection.

Members of the panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration voted 7-4 with one abstention Tuesday that the data presented by the drugmaker show the effectiveness of the vaccine to prevent RSV. The same panel earlier endorsed the vaccine for safety by a 7-to-4 vote, again with one abstaining. The FDA doesn’t have to follow the recommendations of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, but it usually does.