By Elishya Perera
WASHINGTON DC (CWBN)_Pfizer and BioNTech have said on Monday (Nov 9), that their experimental vaccine may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, raising hopes for a major victory in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The trial involves more than 43,000 people from six countries, who got either two doses of the vaccine or a placebo.
Monday’s announcement was made following an interim analysis that looked at the first 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and it found that fewer than 10% of them who caught the disease had been given the vaccine, while more than 90% of the cases were in volunteers who received a placebo.
The pharmaceutical giant has stated that it plans to seek emergency use authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the third week of November, once the volunteers have been monitored for two months after receiving the second dose of vaccine.
Following the announcement, Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, called the Covid-19 vaccine “the greatest medical advance” in the world’s last hundred years. “Emotions are very high. You can imagine how I felt when I heard the results yesterday at 2 p.m. I think that likely, based on impact, this will be the greatest medical advance in the last 100 years,” Bourla said.
In order to confirm the efficacy rate, the trial will be continued until there are 164 COVID-19 cases among volunteers, a number agreed by the FDA.
FDA authorises Monoclonal Antibody for Treatment of COVID-19
Meanwhile, the FDA issued an emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy called bamlanivimab, for treating Covid-19.
Manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co, the treatment has been authorised for use against mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults, including those who are 65 and older, and pediatric patients, the FDA said in a statement.
“Bamlanivimab was shown in clinical trials to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment when compared to placebo,” the statement said.
Edited BY Chathushka Perera
