Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced its coronavirus vaccine candidate is more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 during a major trial.
The firm, which is developing the mRNA-based vaccine with BioNTech, said the results were from a independent interim analysis of the results of its phase three clinical study.
Dr Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO, said: “Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our phase three Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development programme at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.
“With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis. We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.
“I want to thank the thousands of people who volunteered to participate in the clinical trial, our academic collaborators and investigators at the study sites, and our colleagues and collaborators around the world who are dedicating their time to this crucial endeavour.
“We could not have come this far without the tremendous commitment of everyone involved.”
The results are based on the first interim analysis of Phase 3 of the study, and evaluated 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in trial participants.
The study enrolled 43,538 participants, with 42% having diverse backgrounds, and no serious safety concerns have been observed, the companies report.
They add that safety and additional efficacy data continue to be collected.
The case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicates a vaccine efficacy rate above 90%, at seven days after the second dose.
Researchers say this means that protection is achieved 28 days after the initiation of the vaccination, which consists of two doses.
However, they caution that as the study continues the final vaccine efficacy percentage may vary.
