One of the biggest pharmaceutical biotech companies has now announced that it is working on a potential COVID-19 Coronavirus vaccine. The endeavour will be carried out in collaboration with a German company by the name of BioNTech that is working on new kinds of immunotherapy treatments.
Pfizer signed a letter of intent with BioNTech on Tuesday as per which both partners will work together on a messenger RNA-based vaccine that will eventually help people prevent contracting? Coronavirus.
The RNA-based vaccine will work differently from the conventional vaccines that typically use samples of the virus itself to activate the human body¡¯s natural defenses against the disease. Instead, these vaccines will use RNA to initiate the production of proteins in the body similar to the virus. The proteins will then, in turn trigger the immune response of the human body against the Coronavirus.
A report by TechCrunch mentions that both the parties are yet to figure out several details of the collaboration, including the ¡°financial terms and commercialization of whatever results.¡± It means that as and when the vaccine is ready, the two parties will have to resolve on how and where to sell it and how to split the revenue earned from it.
In a typical corporate collaboration, these details are usually the first ones to be cleared out. Proving that is not the case here, Pfizer and BioNTech have already started working on creating the vaccine through their teams across US and Germany. This is a stark reflection of just how urgent the task at hand is for both the parties involved.
Both Pfizer and BioNTech have a history of working on mRNA-based vaccines, having started back in 2018. Taking that into consideration, the joint venture should be able to come up with clinical tests for the vaccine by as early as April.
That being said, it should be noted that any vaccine for Coronavirus at this stage is expected to take at least 12 to 18 months for certified human use. So it is unlikely that the two firms will be able to shorten the wait for the vaccine by any means.
While the production of vaccines for Coronavirus seems unlikely in the coming months, several other firms are working towards creating mechanisms for early detection of the COVID-19. A couple of them have even come up with novel methods to detect the virus in a host in under ten minutes. You can read all about these new detection kits here.