On March 17, 2020 Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) and Pfizer announced that the companies have agreed to a letter of intent regarding the co-development and distribution (excluding China due to BioNTech-FoSun Pharma agreement) of a potential mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection. The collaboration “aims to accelerate global development of BNT162, leveraging expertise and resources of both companies” and “builds on a 2018 agreement to jointly develop an mRNA-based influenza vaccine”.
“The two companies plan to jointly conduct clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates initially in the United States and Europe across multiple sites. BioNTech and Pfizer intend to initiate the first clinical trials as early as the end of April 2020, assuming regulatory clearance.”
“On March 13, 2020, Pfizer issued a five-point plan calling on the biopharmaceutical industry to join the company in committing to unprecedented collaboration to combat COVID-19.”
On April 9, 2020 they disclosed additional details of their collaboration with the “aims to rapidly advance multiple COVID-19 vaccine candidates into human clinical testing based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA vaccine platforms, with the objective of ensuring rapid worldwide access to the vaccine, if approved.”