Pfizer and BioNTech prepare mRNA vaccine for shingles

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, with which it collaborated on the development of the coronavirus vaccine, are now preparing an mRNA vaccine against shingles.

This is the third collaboration between the two companies, which joined forces for the first time in 2018 to develop an influenza vaccine and then in 2020 to develop the coronavirus vaccine, which was the first to be approved worldwide. generating billions in both companies.

As part of their new partnership, Pfizer is set to invest a total of $ 150 million, according to Reuters.

The two companies announced on Wednesday that clinical trials of the shingles vaccine, which will be based on Pfizer antigen technology and BioNTech messenger RNA platform technology, are expected to begin in the second half of 2022.

MRNA vaccines stimulate the human body to produce a protein that is part of the pathogen, triggering an immune response.

If successful, the shingles vaccine will compete with GlaxoSmithKline’s two-dose Shingrix vaccine, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 and generated around 2 2 billion in revenue for GSK in 2020.

It is estimated that 1 million cases of shingles are reported each year in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shingles usually occurs in older adults who had chickenpox or who had the varicella-zoster virus at a younger age. Its main feature is the appearance of a painful rash that subsides within a month in most cases, but sometimes it can last longer.

Pfizer and BioNTech have said they will share the cost of developing the vaccine as well as gross profits from future sales.

Under the deal, Pfizer will pay BioNTech $ 225 million in cash, of which $ 75 million in cash.