Pfizer: U.S. government agreed by purchase 100 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine
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GROTON, CT (WFSB) — The U.S. government placed an order for what could amount to 600 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer announced the agreement, under the White House’s fast tracking initiative “Operation Warp Speed,” on Wednesday morning.
The news came as Gov. Ned Lamont planned an 11 a.m. news conference at the drug maker’s facility in Groton.
The federal government placed an initial order of 100 million doses for $1.95 billion. It can then acquire up to 500 million more doses.
“We’ve been committed to making the impossible possible by working tirelessly to develop and produce in record time a safe and effective vaccine to help bring an end to this global health crisis,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO. “We made the early decision to begin clinical work and large-scale manufacturing at our own risk to ensure that product would be available immediately if our clinical trials prove successful and an Emergency Use Authorization is granted. We are honored to be a part of this effort to provide Americans access to protection from this deadly virus.”
Pfizer said Americans would receive the vaccine for free, which would be consistent with U.S. government’s commitment for free access for COVID-19 vaccines.
The drug maker, which partnered with the German company BioNTech for the vaccine, said it remains on track to begin an anticipated “Phase 2b/3” safety and efficacy trial later this month. It could seek regulatory review as early as October 2020.
The global manufacturing of up to 100 million doses could happen by the end of 2020 with potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
“Expanding Operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio by adding a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. “Depending on success in clinical trials, today’s agreement will enable the delivery of approximately 100 million doses of this vaccine to the American people.”
The “BNT162” program is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and supported by Pfizer’s global vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities. The BNT162 vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical studies and are not currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world. BioNTech is the market authorization holder worldwide and will hold all trademarks for the potential product. Both collaborators are committed to developing these novel vaccines with pre-clinical and clinical data at the forefront of all their decision-making.
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