Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine successful in interim analysis from phase 3 trial, found to be more than 90% effective in preventing virus

Pfizer Inc, a US-based pharma company, and BioNTech, a German Biotech Company announced on November 9, 2020, that their mRNA-based Coronavirus vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, has shown evidence of effectiveness against COVID-19 in participants.

The announcement is based on the first interim efficacy analysis which was conducted on November 8, 2020, by an independent and external Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 Clinical trial.

With this result, Pfizer and BioNTech have become the first drugmakers to show successful data from such a large- scale clinical trial of the vaccine.  As per the companies, there have not been any serious safety concerns so far and they expect to see United States emergency use authorization in late November 2020.

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech said their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing #COVID19 among those without evidence of prior infection: US media

— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2020

Success in first interim efficacy analysis:

According to the statement released by Pfizer, the vaccine candidate has been found to be more than 90% effective in preventing the infection of COVID-19 in the participants without any evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first interim analysis.

Pfizer Chairman and CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla stated that today is a great day for humanity and science as the first set of results from phase 3 clinical trial of the COVID vaccine has provided the initial evidence of the vaccine’s ability to prevent the virus.

Dr. Bourla also thanked thousands of candidates who had volunteered to take part in phase 3 clinical tests, investigators, and academic collaborators at the study sites, colleagues, and collaborators around the world who have been dedicating their time in this significant endeavor.

Next plan for Pfizer vaccine candidate:

Pfizer has informed that apart from the efficacy data that has been generated from clinical trials, both the companies have also been working to prepare the necessary manufacturing and safety data for submitting it to the US drug regulator to demonstrate the quality and safety of the vaccine product.

It further added that as per the current projections, up to 50 million vaccine doses are expected to produce globally in 2020 and it can go up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Pfizer’s vaccine candidate:

The Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer’s vaccine candidate BNT162B2 had started on July 27, 2020. It has enrolled around 43,558 participants till date out of which 38,955 had received the second dose of vaccine candidate as of November 8, 2020.