US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced on Thursday the launch of the first phase of a trial of a candidate vaccine based on messenger RNA that combines protection against influenza and Covid-19. The two laboratories have already developed one of the best-selling Covid vaccines in the world.
A combined mRNA technology vaccine “could simplify vaccination practices against these two respiratory pathogens, potentially leading to better vaccination coverage for both diseases,” Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement.
Pfizer and BioNTech join other laboratories that are also trying to develop a combined vaccine: the American Moderna has started phase 1 of a vaccine against influenza and Covid, confirmed this Thursday on the sidelines of the announcement of its quarterly results.
In mid-October, the US biotech laboratory Novavax announced the “positive results of the phase 1 and 2 clinical trial” of such a vaccine candidate.
Detect “the potential of mRNA vaccines targeting more than one pathogen”
By 2020, BioNTech and Pfizer had been able to quickly and successfully create the world’s first approved Covid-19 vaccine, generating billions of dollars in revenue for both companies.
The company from Mainz (West Germany) will be in charge of testing the safety, immune response and optimal dose level of a combined vaccine candidate, recruiting 180 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 64 in the US, according to he press release. The follow-up period for each participant will be six months.
Messenger RNA is used to direct human cells to make the proteins present in the virus to train the immune system to recognize and neutralize it.
The testing phase will serve to unlock “the potential of mRNA vaccines targeting more than one pathogen,” Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in the statement.
Source: BFM TV
