BioNTech chief predicts need for updated Covid vaccines next year

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The chief biotechnology director behind the first Covid-19 vaccine said a new formulation would likely be needed by the middle of next year to protect against the virus as it mutates.

Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, told the Financial Times that over time, mutations will emerge that can escape the body’s immune defenses. “This year [a different vaccine] is completely unnecessary. But by the middle of next year, the situation could be different, ”he predicted.

A partnership between German biotech and American pharmaceutical company Pfizer has brought the first Covid-19 vaccine to the market. It is also the first vaccine based on mRNA technology to gain regulatory approval and is the best-selling drug in the world this year.

In an interview with the FT, Sahin said that the variants of Covid-19 currently in circulation, particularly the Delta strain, are more contagious but not different enough to undermine the effectiveness of current vaccines.

The recall shots appear capable of tackling the main variants, Sahin said. But the virus will eventually develop mutations that can elude the immune response conferred by the vaccine, he said, requiring a “tailor-made” version to specifically target the new strain.

“This virus will stay and the virus will adapt more,” he said. “We have no reason to assume that the next generation of viruses will be easier for the immune system to manage than the current generation. This is an ongoing evolution, and this evolution is only just beginning.

By next year, there will be two main strands to immunization programs, Sahin predicted. There will be booster shots for those who have already been vaccinated, as well as a continued push to vaccinate people who so far had minimal access.

Pfizer and BioNTech and other Covid-19 vaccine makers have come under pressure from developing countries and aid groups to share patents to allow vaccines to be produced on a larger scale. Sahin rejected the sharing of patents as a risk to quality control. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla argued that this would discourage innovation.

Pharmaceutical groups have tried to address concerns by offering to expand access to the vaccine and invest in production in regions such as Africa, where Pfizer and BioNTech last month announced plans to develop a plant. “fill and finish” manufacturing facility in Cape Town.

Sahin declined to provide forecasts on the price of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in the future, but said he expected it to be still needed in the years to come.

The United States announced in September that it would purchase an additional 500 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine at non-profit rates to give to low-income countries.