Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German laboratory BioNTech are likely to start deliveries of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 as early as Christmas this year, if 'all goes well'.
The chief executive of German firm BioNTech Ugur Sahin told Reuters that the companies could get emergency use authorisation in the United States and Europe in December. “If all goes well, I could imagine that we gain approval in the second half of December and start deliveries before Christmas, but really only if all goes positively,” Ugur Sahin told Reuters.
This comes after Pfizer and BioNTech said on Wednesday that their COVID-19 vaccine was found 95 per cent effective in the final analysis of the Phase 3 trial, including in people aged over 65 years, paving the way for the companies to apply for emergency authorisation from US regulators within days.
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said they have concluded phase 3 study of their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2, meeting all primary efficacy end points.
Based on current projections, the companies expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. The major announcement comes just two days after leading biotechnology company Moderna said on Monday its virus vaccine had an efficacy rate of 94.5 per cent.
The Phase 3 clinical trial of BNT162b2 began in July and has enrolled 43,661 participants to date, 41,135 of whom have received a second dose of the vaccine candidate as of November 13. Approximately 42 per cent of global participants and 30 per cent of US participants have racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, and 41 per cent of global and 45 per cent of US participants are 56-85 years of age.
(Inputs from Agencies)
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