Pfizer's vaccine for the coronavirus is now beginning its clinical trial in the United States with hopes of creating millions of doses by October.
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Pfizer Seems Confident
The Pfizer logo is seen at their world headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 1, 2016.
The multinational pharmaceutical company has announced on Tuesday that human clinical trials together with immunotherapy company BioNTech have started. The test is to see if the potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 to be as effective as it should.
Pfizer said in a news release that the first cohort for the human trials was dosed just last week in Germany, a part of the BNT162 vaccine program. The willing participants will also be dosed at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine and also the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
To add, the University of Rochester Medical Center/Rochester Regional Health and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will also begin their trial participants.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer and chairman, said in the statement, "With our unique and robust clinical study program underway, starting in Europe and now the U.S., we look forward to advancing quickly and collaboratively with our partners at BioNTech and regulatory authorities to bring a safe and efficacious vaccine to the patients who need it most,
Bourla also added, "The short, less than four-month timeframe in which we've been able to move from pre-clinical studies to human testing is extraordinary and further demonstrates our commitment to dedicating our best-in-class resources, from the lab to manufacturing and beyond, in the battle against COVID-19,"
CNBC's Squawk Box interviewed Dr. Mikael Dolsten, who his Pfizer's chief of the scientific office, said that the company is already planning to have millions of doses ready by October alone--hundreds of millions prepared by the year 2021.
"The plans involve ramping up to tens of millions laters this year and with the potential for hundreds of millions in '21... So, it's a very quick plan as we now are dosing participants, healthy participants in the U.S. and Germany."
What to Expect For The Meantime
Of course, as the trial is still underway, Pfizer and BioNTech are already working on setting up production capabilities in hopes of manufacturing large doses of the potential vaccine to meet the global demand for the coronavirus.
The production facilities will be centered around Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, and Belgium.
Ugur Sahin, the CEO, and co-founder of BioNTech reached out and said on a statement saying, "We are optimistic that advancing multiple vaccine candidates into human trials will allow us to identify the safest, most effective vaccination options against COVID-19,"
If both the companies are going to be successful in the clinical trials, they will begin distributing the life-saving vaccine by October, which some health experts have said that the vaccine would usually take for about 12 to 18 months.
As a comparison to the cure for the potential cure for the coronavirus, the fastest cure ever made was for the mumps, which took four years to develop and was released to the public in 1971.
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