Pfizer projects October release date for coronavirus vaccine

Pfizer, BioNtech and other companies are racing to develop a vaccine, since there are currently no approved treatments and only mixed results of medicines under study against the virus.

By REUTERS, ZACHARY KEYSER
Pre-filled M-001 universal flu vaccine syringes (photo credit: BIONDVAX)
Pre-filled M-001 universal flu vaccine syringes
(photo credit: BIONDVAX)
Head of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, said that his company believes they will have a COVID-19 vaccine ready by the end of October, according to the Associated French Press (AFP).
The company is currently in the clinical trial stage of development, developing their vaccine alongside Germany's BioNtech. The companies, whose project relies on messenger RNA technology never before used in an approved vaccine, dosed the first humans in Germany earlier in May, and hope to begin a US trial soon, pending regulators' blessing.
"If things go well, and the stars are aligned, we will have enough evidence of safety and efficacy so that we can... have a vaccine around the end of October," said Bourla, according to AFP.
Pfizer, BioNtech and other companies are racing to develop a vaccine, since there are currently no approved treatments and only mixed results of medicines under study against the virus.
Britain's AstraZeneca said in May that it had joined with the University of Oxford on a vaccine project also being tested in volunteers. They are also projecting an end-of-the-year release date.
"The hope of many people is that we will have a vaccine, hopefully several, by the end of this year," said Pascal Soriot, head of AstraZeneca, according to AFP.
Pfizer aims to make 10-20 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2020 for emergency use should it pass tests, the US drugmaker's head of vaccines announced in May.
Making millions of doses within just months, as Pfizer hopes, would mark almost unprecedented speed and require swift regulatory action.
"Of course we need to see and wait to see how the vaccine's efficacy and safety is demonstrated, hopefully in the coming months," Nanette Cocero, global head of Pfizer Vaccines, said on a call organized by the Geneva-based industry group International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA).
"Assuming that is demonstrated, we are looking to ramp up manufacturing rather quickly to have around 10 to 20 million doses by the end of this year, which are expected to then of course be used in an emergency type of setting."
Other drug-makers testing more than 70 COVID-19 vaccine candidates include Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, and smaller projects like at Bern's Inselspital hospital in Switzerland.