Pfizer has completed its Covid-19 vaccine trials and is not set to apply for an emergency authorization from United States regulators within days, the company said on Wednesday. The company claimed that the final results from its last phase trials for the vaccine had a 95 per cent success rate and two months of safety data.
The efficacy rate of the Pfizer vaccine is the highest so far for any vaccine candidate that is in late stage clinical trials and the results were more than welcomed by experts who were already happy when the company last week had announced that its interim final stage trials of its vaccine showed an efficacy rate of more than 90 per cent.
In its trial of more than 43,000 volunteers, there were 170 cases of Covid-19, Pfizer said, and added that the shot rather than a placebo was given to only eight people with the disease. That translated into the vaccine showing an efficacy rate of 95 per cent. One of the Of the ten people who developed severe COVID-19 had received the vaccine.
“The data is very strong,” said Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britain’s University of Reading. “It’s looking like a real contender.”
The company’s data is expected to be reviewed and discussed by the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee during a public meeting that is likely to be held in December, Pfizer said.
“We continue to move at the speed of science, and we know that every day matters in our path to authorization,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said.
It was just a week ago that the company had come out with initial results from the trial which showed that its vaccine candidate, which it is developing in partnership with German partner BioNTech SE, was able to prevent the disease in more than 90 per cent of people.
On Monday, primary trial data of its vaccine candidate released by another drug maker Moderna Inc exhibited 94.5 per cent efficacy, the company had said.
Hopes for an end to a pandemic that has killed more than 1.3 million people and completely upended the global economy and the daily lives of people have been raised by the better-than-expected results from the two vaccines - both of which have been developed with new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
However, it is likely not to be available widely in the market for a few months at least even though some groups such as healthcare workers will get priority in receiving the shots of the vaccine in the United States this year.
Further, storage and distribution of the Pfizer vaccine is a complicated process because of the requirement for it to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius. However the vaccine has a shelf life of up to five days in a normal fridge for up to five days while in a thermal shipping box it can last up to 15 days.
Importantly the efficacy of the vaccine was also found to be consistent across different age and ethnic groups which is an indication that the vaccine could be applied broadly all over the world.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The efficacy rate of the Pfizer vaccine is the highest so far for any vaccine candidate that is in late stage clinical trials and the results were more than welcomed by experts who were already happy when the company last week had announced that its interim final stage trials of its vaccine showed an efficacy rate of more than 90 per cent.
In its trial of more than 43,000 volunteers, there were 170 cases of Covid-19, Pfizer said, and added that the shot rather than a placebo was given to only eight people with the disease. That translated into the vaccine showing an efficacy rate of 95 per cent. One of the Of the ten people who developed severe COVID-19 had received the vaccine.
“The data is very strong,” said Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britain’s University of Reading. “It’s looking like a real contender.”
The company’s data is expected to be reviewed and discussed by the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee during a public meeting that is likely to be held in December, Pfizer said.
“We continue to move at the speed of science, and we know that every day matters in our path to authorization,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said.
It was just a week ago that the company had come out with initial results from the trial which showed that its vaccine candidate, which it is developing in partnership with German partner BioNTech SE, was able to prevent the disease in more than 90 per cent of people.
On Monday, primary trial data of its vaccine candidate released by another drug maker Moderna Inc exhibited 94.5 per cent efficacy, the company had said.
Hopes for an end to a pandemic that has killed more than 1.3 million people and completely upended the global economy and the daily lives of people have been raised by the better-than-expected results from the two vaccines - both of which have been developed with new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
However, it is likely not to be available widely in the market for a few months at least even though some groups such as healthcare workers will get priority in receiving the shots of the vaccine in the United States this year.
Further, storage and distribution of the Pfizer vaccine is a complicated process because of the requirement for it to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius. However the vaccine has a shelf life of up to five days in a normal fridge for up to five days while in a thermal shipping box it can last up to 15 days.
Importantly the efficacy of the vaccine was also found to be consistent across different age and ethnic groups which is an indication that the vaccine could be applied broadly all over the world.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
