Pfizer Advances Battle Against COVID-19
As one of our largest employers in Reigate and Banstead, please find below the latest information on Pfizer’s efforts in tackling COVID-19. Its UK teams are involved in most elements of this work, particularly the antiviral compound screening, which is being led from its site in Sandwich, Kent.
Pfizer Inc. last week announced important advances in the battle against the global COVID-19 pandemic. As outlined in Pfizer’s five-point plan, the company has been collaborating across the healthcare innovation ecosystem to address the COVID-19 global healthcare crisis.
Researchers and scientists have been relentlessly working to develop an investigational antiviral compound to treat SARS-CoV-2, which causes the current pandemic of coronavirus infections (COVID-19), a vaccine to prevent infection as well as evaluating other therapies that have scientific potential to help infected patients fight the virus.
Dr Berkeley Phillips, Pfizer UK Medical Director commented: “Pfizer, like many other healthcare companies around the world, has been accelerating our research and development efforts to investigate possible therapies to help fight coronavirus.
“COVID-19 was only identified in the last four months, but we are working extremely hard to accelerate the timelines with our current programme of research, working with our partner BioNTech to explore a possible vaccine to prevent COVID 19 while also exploring potential treatments to help patients who already have the disease.
“We have completed the initial screening phase for an anti-viral treatment and have identified a potential lead compound. We are now ready to do further laboratory testing and if successful we are aiming to move to human trials by the third quarter this year”.
Anti-viral compound screening
Pfizer confirmed a lead compound and analogues are potent inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 3C-like (3CL) protease, based on the results of initial screening assays. In addition, preliminary data suggest the lead protease inhibitor shows antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2.
Consequently, Pfizer will perform pre-clinical confirmatory studies, including further anti-viral profiling and assessment of the suitability of the lead molecule for IV administration clinically. In parallel, the company is also investing in materials that will accelerate the start of a potential clinical study of the lead molecule to third-quarter 2020, three or more months in advance of earlier estimates, subject to positive completion of the pre-clinical confirmatory studies.
A global collaboration with BioNTech
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have entered into a global collaboration agreement to co-develop BioNTech’s potential first-in-class, mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine program aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection. In March 2020, the companies announced a letter of intent to collaborate and began working together at that time. The two companies plan to jointly conduct clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates initially in the United States and Europe across multiple research sites.
BioNTech and Pfizer intend to initiate clinical trials as early as the end of April 2020, assuming regulatory clearance. The companies estimate that there is potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020 subject to the technical success of the development programme and approval of regulatory authorities and then rapidly scale up to capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021.
Study partnership with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Pfizer Inc. and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Respiratory Infection Clinical Research Group are launching two new studies to provide insights on the interaction between S. pneumoniae and SARS-CoV-2. Pfizer is expected to finalise in the coming days, a research collaboration agreement with Liverpool to provide funding and in-kind laboratory testing support for this research.
The studies (SAFER study (SARS-CoV-2 Acquisition in Frontline Health Care Workers – Evaluation to Inform Response) and the FASTER study (Facilitating A SARS CoV-2 Test for Rapid triage)) will help demonstrate whether patients infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of also developing pneumococcal pneumonia and if having both infections leads to more severe disease and poorer outcomes.
The SAFER study will enroll 100 healthcare workers at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and examine rates of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition and dynamics of pneumococcal colonisation. The FASTER study will recruit 400 patients from the infectious disease ward at the Royal Liverpool Hospital suspected of having coronavirus. Data from both studies are expected over the next few months.