The race to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine has urged numerous pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. to up their research efforts. Recently, Albert Bourla, CEO of U.S. pharma giant, Pfizer, said that their company’s coronavirus vaccine, if found to be safe, could be distributed in the U.S. by late 2020. 

According to Bourla, the company must present positive data from its late-stage trial to the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) by the end of October. Following FDA approval, Pfizer can distribute large quantities of its COVID-19 vaccine doses in the country. 

The U.S. drug maker has been collaborating with German pharma company BioNTech to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. In July, the U.S. government said that, if the vaccine was proven to be safe and effective, it would invest US$1.95 billion in the two companies to produce and deliver 100 million of its doses. 

The deal was signed as a component of the Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the Trump administration’s bid to accelerate the development and production of vaccines and potential treatments against the coronavirus. Bourla claims that Pfizer has already invested US$1.5 billion on the development of its vaccine. 

Reports claim that Pfizer is among the top 3 pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. that are currently in late-stage testing for a vaccine. The drug maker has presented a proposal to the FDA to extent its late-stage trial by adding about 44,000 participants, a major increase from its prior planned 30,000 participants. 

Speaking on distribution, the NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine) earlier this month released a draft proposal for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. depending on its approved for public use. The vaccine is planned to be distributed in four phases, with frontline health workers, the elderly and individuals with specific health conditions among the first to be vaccinated.

Source Credit: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/13/coronavirus-pfizer-vaccine-could-be-given-to-americans-before-end-of-year-ceo-says.html