Coronavirus: Pfizer and BioNTech announce global vaccine trial

Companies hope to produce 100 million doses by end of year

US drug maker Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech said an advanced trial has begun on a Covid-19 vaccine candidate that the firms hope to bring to market by the end of 2020.

The trial will include 30,000 participants from 120 sites across the globe, including regions hardest hit by the pandemic. If successful, the firms plan to apply for regulatory approval for the potential vaccine by October.

Pfizer and BioNTech hope to supply 100 million doses of the treatment – named BNT162b2 – by the end of 2020, rising to 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.

“The initiation of the Phase 2/3 trial is a major step forward in our progress toward providing a potential vaccine to help fight the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” the companies said in a statement on Monday.

“Many steps have been taken toward this important milestone and we would like to thank all those involved for their extraordinary commitment.”

The announcement came ahead of Pfizer reporting its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Shares in the US-based pharmaceutical giant gained around 3 per cent in after hours trading in New York, according to Bloomberg.

US-traded shares in BioNTech rose by 5 per cent.

Moderna Inc – a US-based biotech firm – also launched an advanced stage trial with 30,000 participants on Monday. Medical multinational Johnson & Johnson is set to start clinical trials on its vaccine candidate next week.

The race to find a vaccine against coronavirus has intensified in recent weeks as governments around the world move to secure early supplies of the unproven treatments.

Last week, the US secured a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 100 million doses of its vaccine at a cost of £2bn (£1.5bn).

Elsewhere, the UK government announced that it had reached an agreement for early access to 90 million doses of “promising” vaccine candidates, 30 million of which are set to come from Pfizer and BioNTech candidate.

On the same day, researchers at the University of Oxford said that a vaccine being developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca produced a strong immune response and appears to be safe.

Earlier in the year, AstraZeneca said it hoped to deliver a vaccine by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down as the US, India and much of South America continue to report large numbers of new infections and deaths.

China this week recorded its biggest rise in cases since April, while Australia recorded its worst ever daily infection tally as authorities continue to grapple with multiple outbreaks in Melbourne.

India recorded nearly 50,000 new daily cases of Covid-19 on Monday, its highest daily tally so far, according to the ministry of health and family welfare.

Global infections now stand at more than 16 million, with over 650,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins figures.