Pfizer Has Reached Over 50% Enrollment for Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Phase 3 Trial

One of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates currently in development is getting closer to a potential finish line. Pfizer said on Wednesday that the recruitment for the crucial U.S. phase 3 clinical trial of its BNT162b2 is more than 50% complete. The company is aiming to recruit 30,000 individuals for the trial.

The news was reported by Pfizer vaccine research and development scientist Dr. Nicholas Kitchin at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

BNT162b2, which Pfizer is developing in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech, is one of only a handful that is about to advance to phase 3 testing. Enrollment seems to be proceeding quickly, as last week, the company said it had recruited over 11,000 individuals. At this pace, enrollment could be complete within only a few more weeks.

The company is confident it can recruit and conduct the late-stage trial quickly and effectively. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an Aug. 6 interview with The Washington Post that his company could start seeking regulatory approval for BNT162b2 as early as October; that, of course, assumes that the vaccine candidate proves to be efficacious in a relatively fast-moving late-stage trial.

The company has made arrangements with manufacturing partners to make the vaccine, if it is successful in the phase 3 trial and subsequently receives approval from major regulators. In July, Pfizer and BioNTech contracted with the U.S. government to supply up to 600 million doses.

Source: The Motley Fool