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In the race for a vaccine, those who take too long may lose.
Vienna At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there were tremendous opportunities for the many pharmaceutical companies and universities that jumped into the development of Covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, the tide has turned: US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner Biontech are preparing to introduce the first corona vaccine, which is already underway in Britain. Competitor Moderna is hot on their heels.
Dozens of drug companies that are lagging behind in development are now becoming disillusioned – the window to developing a successful vaccine could close before there are really many vendors on the market. With the population beginning to be vaccinated, some laggards may no longer be able to recruit enough volunteers for their studies. Those who are many months behind could be left out of the huge US market, which is also often the most lucrative.
The problem for the laggards is the high effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which is around 95 percent according to the company. It breeds hope that the world will soon have effective weapons to stop the contagion.
While the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna offer excellent short-term protection, it is unclear if this could go away. You may also experience side effects like headache and fatigue, especially after the second dose. This could allow second-generation vaccines to provide better-tolerated or longer-lasting protection.
But: The exceptional efficacy of early-developer vaccines also raises the bar and reduces the circle of candidates who will succeed. Merck, Novavax and Sanofi and their partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and more than 200 other research teams, are also working on a corona vaccine. It wasn’t until Friday that Sanofi and GSK suffered a setback with their vaccine.
Find volunteers
The approval of the vaccine could take longer than expected. Based on the results of the initial study, the vaccine only produces an inadequate immune response in older people, who are particularly at risk for corona infection. Sanofi now plans to start another study in early 2021 and hopes to develop a more effective vaccine by the end of 2021.
One problem pharmaceutical companies face is that it can be difficult to get volunteers to sign up or stay in clinical trials. The challenge will get worse during the winter and early spring as many may have already been vaccinated or have a chance to get vaccinated.
After initial difficulties in recruiting enough trial participants, Johnson & Johnson now assumes that it will be able to present the results in January. (Bloomberg)
