A vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in ongoing Phase 3 trials, the companies announced Monday. Protection in patients was achieved seven days after the second of two doses, and 28 days after the first, according to preliminary findings.
A press release by Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that as of November 8, 2020, in the phase 3 clinical trial of BNT162b2 which was initiated on July 27, 38,955 of the total 43,538 participants have received a second dose of the vaccine. The study aims to analyze this vaccine’s potential to protect people from COVID-19 who had previously been effected by SARS-CoV-2 as well as enable prevention against severe COVID-19 disease. The clinical trial will continue to enroll more participants and “to continue through the final analysis when a total of 164 confirmed COVID-19 cases have accrued.”
“In addition to the primary efficacy endpoints evaluating confirmed COVID-19 cases accruing from 7 days after the second dose, the final analysis now will include, with the approval of the FDA, new secondary endpoints evaluating efficacy based on cases accruing 14 days after the second dose as well” the press released added further.
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“Today is a great day for science and humanity. 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 Dr Albert Bourla, the Pfizer chairman and CEO, 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 program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.” Bourla added.
“We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”
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“I want to thank the thousands of people who volunteered to participate in the clinical trial, our academic collaborators and investigators at the study sites, and our colleagues and collaborators around the world who are dedicating their time to this crucial endeavor,” added Bourla. “We could not have come this far without the tremendous commitment of everyone involved.”
“This is a victory for innovation, science and a global collaborative effort,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin, BioNTech co-founder and CEO.
“When we embarked on this journey 10 months ago this is what we aspired to achieve. Especially today, while we are all in the midst of a second wave and many of us in lockdown, we appreciate even more how important this milestone is on our path towards ending this pandemic and for all of us to regain a sense of normality. We will continue to collect further data as the trial continues to enroll for a final analysis planned when a total of 164 confirmed COVID-19 cases have accrued. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to make this important achievement possible.”
Across much of the globe, Covid-19 infections rates are soaring to record highs, with hospital intensive care units filling up and death tolls mounting as well.
Based on supply projections, the companies said they expect to supply up to 50 million vaccine doses globally in 2020, and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
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AFP with additional input by GVS news desk