Pfizer and BioNTech to Co-Develop Potential COVID-19 Vaccine

NEW YORK & MAINZ, Germany -- Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE today announced that the companies have agreed to a letter of intent regarding the co-development and distribution (excluding China)  of a potential mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection. The companies have executed a Material Transfer and Collaboration Agreement to enable the parties to immediately start working together.

The collaboration aims to accelerate development of BioNTech's potential first-in-class COVID-19 mRNA vaccine program, BNT162, which is expected to enter clinical testing by the end of April 2020. The rapid advancement of this collaboration builds on the research and development collaboration into which Pfizer and BioNTech entered in 2018 to develop mRNA-based vaccines for prevention of influenza.

"We are proud that our ongoing, successful relationship with BioNTech gives our companies the resiliency to mobilize our collective resources with extraordinary speed in the face of this worldwide challenge," said Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development & Medical, Pfizer.

BioNTech's Chinese Partnership

As part of the development program, BioNTech announced a strategic alliance with China's Fosun Pharma to jointly develop its vaccine in China.

○ Coronavirus: German, US companies sign deal to develop vaccine | DW |
○ BioNTech Signs Collaboration Agreement with Pfizer to Developm RNA‐based Vaccines for Prevention of Influenza | Press Release - Aug. 16, 2018 |

%@$#€*! First Communist Cuba and now our greatest foe Communist China ... social isolation and ComIntern. Bah!