A COVID-19 Vaccine Could be Ready Around the End of October Said CEO of Pfizer
A COVID-19 Vaccine Could be Ready Around the End of October Said CEO of Pfizer
On a Global Biopharma CEO/Top Executives COVID-19 Media Briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) on May 28, 2020, Albert Bourla, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer has given updates on what they’re doing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to him, if things go well or if the “stars are aligned,” they will have enough evidence of safety and efficacy, we have a vaccine around the end of October.
“There are multiple technologies that right now are implemented – from very old ones, all the way way to very novel ones, and I hope that they will all be successful, because as we all know, we will need a lot of options as soon as possible.”
– Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer during the Top Executives COVID-19 Media Briefing, May 28, 2020
Bourla also said that Pfizer has chosen the mRNA technology in creating a vaccine because they have been working with a German biotech company that is mastering this kind of technology.
Furthermore, he revealed that they have been collaborating with them for two years on a flu vaccine. “Not on a COVID-19 vaccine, but on a flu vaccine that has very similar characteristics,” said Bourla.
The CEO of Pfizer believes that they have enough expertise, scale, and technology that offers speed. He said that with mRNA Technology “you can do in weeks things that for rather more conventional technology you need months to do so.”
COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates
As of 27 May 2020, there are already ten (10) candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and one hundred fifteen (115) candidate vaccines in pre-clinical evaluation, based on a report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Other the other hand, according to IFPMA, several biopharmaceutical companies are researching vaccine candidates and are collaborating in the sharing of existing technologies that can be leveraged to allow a rapid upscale of production once a vaccine candidate is identified.
SOURCES
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations
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