RE: CORONA VIRUS VACCINE1 Jul 2020 16:46
BioNTech, the first European company to release vaccine trial results, is one of several companies using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to develop a vaccine — a process that is faster than traditional methods.
Based on the initial trial results, BioNTech and Pfizer hope to progress to a larger US trial, involving 30,000 participants, within weeks, subject to regulatory approval.
Ugur Sahin, co-founder and chief executive of BioNTech, told the Financial Times the company was opting for a higher level of neutralising antibody responses in order to increase the likelihood that those vaccinated are prevented from spreading the disease, as well as from contracting it.
“If you don’t know the level required to control this virus, if you don’t know the power of the enemy, you don’t want the response to be too weak,” he said.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to be able to manufacture up to 100m doses of the vaccine by the end of the year, and more than 1.2bn doses by the end of 2021, depending on the dosage sizes required.
In May, Moderna of the US, a rival mRNA specialist, released initial findings of its vaccine trial, which showed that participants developed similar levels of immunity to recovered coronavirus patients, with only minor side effects.
Rather than using pathogens to induce an immune response, mRNA vaccines use genetic material that carries instructions for cells to produce proteins that fight disease. However, no marketable mRNA product has been produced to date.
AstraZeneca, the UK-based pharmaceuticals company, has secured orders from around the world for a total of 2bn doses of the virus-based Covid-19 vaccine that it is developing with the University of Oxford and other partners.
Results of the first phase of its clinical trial have not been released — beyond a statement that it seems safe — but AstraZeneca and Oxford have moved on to the next stage, in which the vaccine will be tested on 10,000 adult volunteers to see whether it protects against infection.
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