Pfizer’s Groton plant has already developed some of the maximum drugs ingested by Americans, adding Zoloft, which treats anxiety, and Zithromax, which can kill the maximum amount of cursed bacteria.
But the pharmaceutical company’s paintings on a COVID-19 vaccine would possibly give Connecticut facilities its greatest reputation: the cradle of a drug designed for humanity from a fatal virus that has so far claimed the lives of more than 189,000 Americans and 894,000 others worldwide. .
John Burkhardt, senior vice president of Pfizer and manager of Groton, is proud of his institution’s role in the high-risk race for a coronavirus vaccine.
“Connecticut is Pfizer’s largest center of study and progression in the world,” he said. “And the contribution of Connecticut scientists is unique in the progression of the vaccine. “
Pfizer and its rival Moderna are at the forefront of all other American efforts to produce a COVID-19 vaccine. Last week, at a convention of foreign pharmaceutical executives, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla caused a stir by saying that his company could suffer from the effects of its coronavirus complex. trial of the vaccine already in October.
“We hope that until the end of October, we have had enough . . . to tell if the product works or not,” Bourla said.
The stakes are high. Analysts have predicted that the overall COVID-19 vaccine market would constitute $100 billion in sales, with Pfizer having a truly extensive stake.
First, of course, Pfizer will have to turn out that the vaccine he developed, largely through the paintings of two hundred painters in Groton, is an effective shield against coronavirus.
Because the Food and Drug Administration said Pfizer’s request to expedite approval of the drug by giving it an “emergency use” designation, a vaccine may be on the market before the first day of winter, or even before Thanksgiving, if Pfizer’s efforts, or any of the other complex pharmaceutical trials , are effective.
But there are many “yes” and doubts that a COVID vaccine can evolve so temporarily: in a fraction of the time, it took other vaccines to develop, test and approve for use.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is among the skeptics and recently said that approval of a vaccine through October remains “unlikely,” though possible. designation of the “emergency use” vaccine to expedite its release.
“How can a poor or poor assessment be justified into injecting into tens of millions or even many millions of Americans?”asked Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
But Burkhardt is optimistic. Last week, he said, Pfizer clinical trials recruited another 23,000 people in 39 states, adding Connecticut, to a total of 120 sites worldwide. The target is 30,000 registered, he said, and some of them received a placebo. Haven Health recruited others in Pfizer’s essay.
The vaccine Pfizer is testing on these other people is one of 4 vaccines developed with his German wife BioNTech. The winning candidate, known as BNT162b1, found that it expands antibodies into or around the grades discovered in patients who recovered from COVID-19, with “moderate “and transient”-looking effects,” according to the pharmaceutical company.
To claim that his vaccine was a success, Burkhardt said Pfizer will have to turn out that those who won the trial doses are at least 50% less likely to have contracted coronavirus than those in the control group. He expects the numbers to exceed 50. % threshold and are “really high. “
“We think science will win,” Burkhardt said, “but it’s science. “
President Donald Trump has insisted that a vaccine be in position quickly, ahead of the November 3 general election.
Tuesday, Bourla and the CEOs of 8 other prescription drugs: AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson
The convenience of pharmaceutical corporations turned out to have come at the right time. Citing a new exam Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont said 20% of Connecticut respondents surveyed through DataHaven said they were not planning to get vaccinated against COVID-19. If they say they will reject a vaccine, they would possibly feel “that those things might have precipitated . . . (they) do not follow protocols,” he said.
He also said some say they have enough time to get vaccinated and others suffer from “widespread anxiety about vaccines. “
The governor promised that the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Connecticut would be safe.
“We’re not going to leave anything if we’re not convinced that this is the safest thing we can do,” he said. State officials are “looking for a lot of controls on this,” he said. Yale School of Public Health the previous Tuesday.
Never in humans
Vaccines can take many other forms, but most of them currently involve inactivated viruses, weakened live viruses, or pieces of protein. Pfizer and Moderna are testing a new type of vaccine that has never been approved for use in humans. Their genetic molecules called messenger RNA.
RNA is injected into muscle cells and induces those cells to create a protein like the one discovered on the surface of the coronavirus. The theory is that these proteins will stimulate the immune formula and result in lasting coverage opposite COVID-19. the effects of the latest clinical trials, this is a theory.
While Pfizer’s workplace in Groton was a major player in vaccine studies and development, the actual vaccine will occur in 4 stages at 4 other sites. Production began in Chesterfield, Missouri, and the vaccine traveled to the Netherlands, Michigan, Andover, Maine and a site in Belgium.
“Everyone produces their own piece,” Burkhardt said.
The vaccine will require two doses, injected almost a month apart. And it will want to be stored at very unscrulent temperatures, minus 80 degrees Celsius.
Pfizer says its distribution formula is based “on a formula just in time that will send the frozen vials to the vaccination point. “
The company plans to use special freezer trucks and temperature-controlled boxes that would keep the vaccine vials frozen at the proper temperature for 10 days.
It will depend on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the number of the first doses of any vaccine, which will first be rationed, moved to Connecticut and first inoculated in the state.
The first to get the vaccine is expected to be doctors and other frontline workers at Array Hospital and citizens of long-term care services for the elderly.
The Trump administration announced in July that it had awarded Pfizer and BioNTech a $1. 95 billion contract to produce one hundred million doses of the vaccine. Pfizer said it could potentially produce more than 1. 3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Burkhardt said the first edition of the vaccine is the “pandemic edition. “Workers at the Groton site and other Pfizer sites have returned to the lab to paintings on a more subtle and advanced “postpandémic” edition, Burkhardt said, as it is expected to be a strong demand for a COVID-19 vaccine for years to come.
First, the federal government will cover the cost of vaccines, although some patients may have to pay administrative fees for their injections, such as the cost of a doctor’s visit.
Connecticut and all states are required to provide CDC with recommendations on distribution sites in the state, which, in addition to medical offices, may include hospitals, network gyms, and pharmacies.
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