PARIS – A vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in an ongoing Phase 3 trial, the companies announced today.
The statement was released as coronavirus cases are soaring across the world, and European stock markets and oil prices jumped on the news.
According to preliminary findings, protection in patients is achieved seven days after the second of two doses, and 28 days after the first.
“The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19,” said Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla in a statement.
“We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development programme at a time when the world needs it most.”
Across much of the globe, Covid-19 infection rates are hitting record highs, with intensive care units filling up and death tolls mounting.
Based on supply projections, the companies said they expect to supply up to 50 million vaccine doses globally this year and up to 1.3 billion in 2021.
US biotech firm Moderna, several state-run Chinese labs, and a European project led by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are thought to be closing in on potentially viable vaccines.
Two Russian vaccines have been registered for use even before clinical trials are completed, but have not been widely accepted outside of the country.
The Phase 3 clinical trial – the final stage – of the new vaccine, BNT162b2, began in late July and has enrolled 43,538 participants to date, 90% of whom received a second dose of the vaccine candidate as of November 8.
Pfizer said it is gathering two months of safety data following the final dose – a requirement of the US Food and Drug Administration – to qualify for emergency use authorisation, which it expects by the third week of this month.
“We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks,” said Bourla.
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to submit data from the full Phase 3 trial for scientific peer-review publication.
As of mid-October, the World Health Organisation had identified 42 “candidate vaccines” at the stage of clinical trials, up from 11 in mid-June.
Ten of them were at the most advanced Phase 3 stage, in which a vaccine’s effectiveness is tested on a large scale, generally tens of thousands of people across several continents. – AFP, November 9, 2020
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