GlaxoSmithKline has joined a global effort to vaccinate children in the world's poorest countries against pneumonia.

The pharmaceutical company, which employs about 5,000 in the Triangle, said it would supply 300 doses of its Synflorix vaccine over a 10-year-period at a steep discount. The drugs have a U.S. value of $1.3 billion but will be discounted by about 90 percent, according to the company.

The New York Times is reporting that the first 20 percent of the vaccines will cost $7 a dose and then drop to $3.50 a dose.

The deal was announced Tuesday by the GAVI Alliance, a nonprofit organization. According to the organization, pneumococcal disesases such as pneumonia and meningitis are the leading cause of death in children under age 5 in developing countries.

The deal was made possible by financing from GAVI, five donor countries (the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Norway and Italy) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals, said the first doses are expected to be available in Africa later this year.

A new version of the Prevnar childhood vaccine that federal regulators approved Wednesday is expected to be a big seller for Pfizer and will be partly produced at the company's drug factory in Sanford.

Pfizer acquired the plant, which employs about 1,000 people, when it bought Wyeth in October. The facility makes the current version of Prevnar and will be involved in two steps of producing Prevnar 13. Other steps will be handled at different Pfizer sites, said spokesman Rick Chambers.

"At this time, there is no plan for changing staff based on today's announcement," Chambers wrote in an email.  

But additional work from production of the new vaccine doesn't end uncertainty for employees at the Sanford plant. Pfizer is still reviewing its manufacturing operations as it seeks more ways to cut costs following the Wyeth takeover. The company plans to provide an update on that review as soon as next month.

GlaxoSmithKline has won approval from U.S. regulators to sell its vaccine to fight H1N1, making it the last major drug manufacturer to receive clearance in this country.

The British company with its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park also said that the U.S. Health Department has ordered 7.6 million doses of the swine flu shot.

GSK will make the vaccine at its factory in Quebec. The company expects to begin shipping the U.S. doses in December and provide all of them by the end of the year.

In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved vaccines made by four of the five companies expected to manufacture swine flu vaccines. At that time, GSK officials said they expected to win approval "as soon as possible."

GSK was left out because of challenges making a vaccine without an adjuvant, an ingredient added to boost potency so more people can be treated, Bloomberg News reported.

U.S. vaccine supplies have been held up by production snags at two drugmakers and GSK's delays in winning approval, Bloomberg reported.