Pfizer, a US-based pharmaceutical company, and BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, have entered a partnership to roll out millions of doses of a COVID-19 candidate vaccine, which is currently under trials, either towards the end of 2020 or in early 2021.
According to various sources, Pfizer will initially pay $185 million to BioNTech for the collaboration. The deal, if certain milestones are met, could go up to $750 million.
ALSO READ
5 Month Old Girl from Gilgit Baltistan Becomes Youngest to Recover from Coronavirus
Pfizer’s research chief, Mikael Dolsten, revealed that preclinical trials of compound, developed originally after SARS (Another variant of coronavirus) broke out in 2003, has shown promising results to treat COVID-19.
The US company is aiming to initiate human trials of the candidate vaccine in the third quarter of 2020.
In addition to all this, Pfizer is also testing its existing medicines to ascertain if they could possibly treat Coronavirus.
Research is underway at Pfizer to check whether Xeljanz and Zithromax, its drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis and bacterial infections respectively, can help cure pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
ALSO READ
US Includes Pakistan Among Countries Developing COVID-19 Vaccine
A French study had declared that Zithromax along with hydroxychloroquine proved beneficial in treating Coronavirus patients in the country.
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is also collaborating with Pfizer on two research projects to understand the link between pneumonia and COVID-19.
