The German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer have begun producing a modified COVID-19 vaccine for the Omicron variant for later commercial use. This was announced by BioNTech's founder, Ugur Sahin, during a press conference at the American "JP Morgan" bank on Tuesday. He mentioned that a clinical study for the modified vaccine is set to start at the end of January. Sahin said, "We assume that by March we will be ready to supply the market if the official licenses are available."
It is noteworthy that the European Medicines Agency has not yet announced whether it is necessary to have a modified vaccine for the Omicron variant by altering the composition of the vaccine used in the current vaccine. BioNTech and Pfizer expect that their production capacity this year could provide up to 4 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine worldwide. During his virtual participation, Sahin stated, "We expect strong demand for our vaccine in 2022 as well."
Additionally, Pfizer Group's CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC on Monday (local time) that Pfizer has started producing the modified vaccine at its own risk, adding that he does not know whether the vaccine will be needed or how it will be used, "but we will be ready."
Currently, the COVID-19 vaccines produced by various companies were primarily developed to combat the original strain of the virus that was discovered in China at the end of 2019. While these vaccines, which have been in use since late 2020, have proven effective against later variants such as Alpha and Delta, the situation may be different for the Omicron variant. Sahin stated that the pandemic's situation remains unclear, and it is impossible to predict what type of virus variant will emerge next. "It is very likely that the Omicron vaccine will enhance immune responses against all existing variants."
BioNTech estimates that there is still a long way to go from a pandemic situation to an endemic one, that is, to a less severe situation than it is currently. Sahin indicated that accurate forecasts are not possible, noting that the widespread nature of the coronavirus has resulted in a vast reservoir of new variants that can spread rapidly.
Estimates suggest that BioNTech and Pfizer's market share reached 80% in Europe and 74% in the United States as of last December. BioNTech estimated that its sales from COVID-19 vaccines alone this year will range between 16 and 17 billion euros.
