Pfizer & BioNTech collaborate on Covid-19 vaccine

Major pharma player Pfizer will work with immunotherapy company BioNTech on a potential coronavirus vaccine.

The companies have signed a Material Transfer and Collaboration Agreement to work on a messenger RNA-based (mRNA) vaccine to prevent Covid-19 infection. The agreement covers the co-development and distribution of the vaccine – excluding China.

The collaboration aims to accelerate the development of BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine program – BNT162, which the company expects to enter clinical testing by the end of April 2020. The collaboration follows previous research and development work conducted between Pfizer and BioNTech, which targeted mRNA-based vaccine for the prevention of influenza.  

“We are proud that our ongoing, successful relationship with BioNTech gives our companies the resiliency to mobilise our collective resources with extraordinary speed in the face of this worldwide challenge,” said Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president, Worldwide Research, Development & Medical, Pfizer. “We believe that by pairing Pfizer’s development, regulatory and commercial capabilities with BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine technology and expertise as one of the industry leaders, we are reinforcing our commitment to do everything we can to combat this escalating pandemic, as quickly as possible.”

“This is a global pandemic, which requires a global effort. In joining forces with our partner Pfizer, we believe we can accelerate our effort to bring a COVID-19 vaccine to people around the world who need it,” said Ugur Sahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech.

The companies will begin collaborating immediately and will finalise details of the agreement regarding financial terms, and all activities related to development, manufacturing and potential commercialisation over the next few weeks.