Coronavirus: Pfizer in ‘last mile’ of creating COVID-19 vaccine

Crucial trial data from its race to develop a Covid vaccine should be ready by November, Pfizer says.

Pfizer pharmaceutical company is competing with AstraZeneca, the British drugs group, and Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, its American rivals, to bring a COVID-19 vaccine to market. Picture: Dominick Reuter/AFP

Pfizer has reached the “last mile” of developing a COVID-19 vaccine, but “patience” is required before the company releases crucial trial data, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Albert Bourla had hinted earlier that Pfizer could release some details from its late-stage trial by the end of October, but on Tuesday it indicated that this would not happen for at least another week.

Pfizer is competing with AstraZeneca, the British drugs group, and Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, its American rivals, to bring a COVID-19 vaccine to market. Mr Bourla said this month that Pfizer’s version, which it is developing alongside Biontech, of Germany, could be ready by late November.

Pfizer said that its late-stage vaccine trial had not yet received an interim analysis. This involves a small number of vaccinated participants being infected with the coronavirus under the supervision of outside experts, who determine whether the vaccine works safely.

The company had about 42,000 of the 44,000 volunteers needed for that trial, which began in July, it said. So far, 36,000 had been given a second injection of either the vaccine or a placebo.

Mr Bourla said: “We have reached the last mile. Let’s all have the patience required for something so important for health and the global economy.”

Pfizer reported a third-quarter profit of dollars 2.2 billion, down from dollars 7.7 billion a year earlier, when the sale of its consumer healthcare business gave it an dollars 8.1 billion boost. Revenue fell to dollars 12.1 billion from dollars 12.7 billion. Pfizer shares rose 16 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to dollars 38.08 by lunchtime in New York.

Mercy said on Tuesday that it expected to release results from two early COVID-19 vaccine trials this year. On Monday, US regulators halted testing of an antibody treatment being developed by Eli Lilly for use on patients in hospital. The company said on Tuesday that tests would continue in other patients.

The Times