On November 20, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced they will submit a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2, which will potentially enable use of the vaccine in high-risk populations in the U.S. by the middle to end of December 2020.
“Our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine has never been more urgent, as we continue to see an alarming rise in the number of cases of COVID-19 globally. Filing in the U.S. represents a critical milestone in our journey to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to the world, and we now have a more complete picture of both the efficacy and safety profile of our vaccine, giving us confidence in its potential,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO.
The FDA EUA For COVID-19 Vaccine
“We look forward to the upcoming Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee discussion and continue to work closely with the FDA and regulatory authorities worldwide to secure authorization of our vaccine candidate as quickly as possible.”
“Filing for Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. is a critical step in making our vaccine candidate available to the global population as quickly as possible,” said Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech. “We intend to continue to work with regulatory agencies worldwide to enable the rapid distribution of our vaccine globally.
As a company located in Germany in the heart of Europe, our interactions with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are of particular importance to us, and we have continuously provided data to them as part of our rolling review process.”
Manufacturing And Delivery Capabilities
The companies continue to work in collaboration with governments and Ministries of Health around the world that will distribute the vaccine, subject to authorization or approval, to help ensure it can reach those most in need as quickly as possible. Pfizer and BioNTech’s combined manufacturing network has the potential to supply up to 50 million vaccine doses globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Pfizer has developed specially designed, temperature-controlled shippers for the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate, which can maintain recommended storage conditions (-70°C ±10°C) up to 15 days. Each shipper contains a GPS-enabled thermal sensor to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment.
Once thawed, the vaccine vial can be stored for up to 5 days at refrigerated (2 – 8oC) conditions. “Based on their collective experience, the companies believe in their capability to distribute the vaccine globally upon approval or authorization,” – Pfizer said.
About The COVID-19 Vaccine Study
The Phase 3 clinical trial of BNT162b2, which is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology, began on July 27 and has enrolled 43,661 participants to date, 41,135 of whom have received a second dose of the vaccine candidate as of November 13, 2020. Participants will continue to be monitored for long-term protection and safety for an additional two years after their second dose.
The companies have already initiated rolling submissions with several regulatory agencies around the world, including the EMA and the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, and intend to submit applications to other regulatory agencies worldwide in the coming days.
The BNT162b2 vaccine candidate is not currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world.
