An experimental coronavirus vaccine entering human trials in the US may be available in many millions of doses by the end of 2020, the CEO of BioNTech said.
The German drug maker has partnered with US giant Pfizer to distribute a potential vaccine which is already in human trials in Germany.
CEO Ugur Şahin believes the regulatory approval process could be sped up from what is historically an 18-month time frame due to the global pandemic.
“The benefit of a vaccine in a pandemic situation is much greater and therefore an approval or an authorization of a vaccine in a pandemic situation has to follow other rules than we have seen in the past,” Şahin told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen.
Şahin believes Covid-19 will be responsive to a vaccine which is he calls the “most important aspect” of vaccine development. He said the second aspect is the “very encouraging” pre-clinical data.
“We see vaccine responses, we see strong vaccine responses at even low doses. And we believe that this vaccine response, since we have seen that in different animal models will also translate into vaccine responses in human subjects,” Şahin said.
If it is approved by the regulators, Şahin said the partners are “prepared to go as fast as possible” to get the vaccine to the population.
