Adapted corona vaccine: study results “in the coming weeks”

Since January, BioNTech has been testing a corona vaccine adapted to the omicron variant in a clinical study. This has since been expanded to include several new cohorts. Results should be available in the next few weeks.

The pharmaceutical manufacturer BioNTech is expecting results from the clinical studies on vaccines against the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the coming weeks. “On the basis of the clinical data, the approval authorities will determine the further regulatory procedure that will be necessary for a possible approval of an adapted vaccine,” said BioNTech boss Ugur Sahin at the general meeting of the Mainz-based company. Depending on the decision of the regulatory authorities, an adapted vaccine could then be approved between August and the fall, he said.

More than two billion doses pre-ordered

BioNTech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer started clinical studies in January for a vaccine against the currently predominant omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. In it, various vaccine candidates are tested for safety and effectiveness. According to Sahin, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has planned a meeting at the end of June to specify what the agency expects from the vaccines adapted to the omicron variant. Sahin said that he also expects the EU medicines agency EMA to take such a step.

As of the end of April, around 2.4 billion doses of the Omicron vaccine had been pre-ordered from Pfizer and BioNTech.

New drugs possible in the next few years

BioNTech’s CFO Jens Holstein said the company expects sales of between 13 and 17 billion euros this year. The most important goals included the further development of the existing corona vaccines and the development of “next generation” vaccines.

The mRNA technology successfully used in the corona vaccines should also be used for therapies against other diseases, such as autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases. In the next three to five years, new drugs to fight cancer and infectious diseases could also come onto the market.