Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said on Tuesday (May 5) they have begun delivering doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccines for initial human testing in the United States.
The U.S. drug maker and German partner said if the vaccine proves to be safe and effective in trials, it could potentially be ready for wide U.S. distribution by the end of the year, shaving several years off the typical vaccine development timeline.
The vaccine, which uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, has the potential to be among the first vaccines against the virus that has infected more than 10 lakh people in the United States and killed some 68,000.
There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for the new coronavirus, though some drugs are being used on patients under an emergency use authorization.
The U.S. study is part of a broader, global program already underway in Germany, where BioNTech is based. Dosing there began last month.
Using synthetic mRNA technology can enable the vaccine to be developed and manufactured more quickly than traditional vaccines, the companies said.
Pfizer said last week it expects to make safety data on the vaccine available by late May.
The trial will initially aim to test different dosing regimens of four potential vaccine candidates on around 360 healthy volunteers divided into a younger cohort and a group of seniors.
Earlier in the last week Pfizer had applied to FDA for the approval of the drug.