The United States will pay the pharmaceutical company Pfizer $ 1.95 billion to produce and deliver 100 million doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in case the drug is effective in human trials, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
Pfizer will administer the vaccine when the drug receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization after a large-scale Phase 3 trial.
The deal reportedly includes an option for the government to buy an additional 500 million doses of the vaccine.
“Expanding Operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio by adding a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech increases the odds that we will have a safe and effective vaccine as soon as this year ends,” Sec. Health and Human Services. Alex Azar said in a statement. “Depending on the success of clinical trials, today’s agreement will allow the delivery of approximately 100 million doses of this vaccine to the American people.”
Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech are working together to develop the vaccine.
Pfizer said in a press release Monday that Phases 1 and 2 results from a German trial indicated the drug “could be administered safely, with a manageable tolerability profile,” according to the test data.
Modern biotech company is also working to develop a coronavirus vaccine. That candidate will move on to Phase 3 testing by the end of the month, and the government has also agreed to buy and distribute the drug in case the large-scale test is effective.
.
