Vaccine innovator Pfizer talks about ‘cancer doses’

Azlim Tourejy, the immunologist who created the Pfizer-Biontech coronavirus vaccine, reassured people about the vaccine’s safety. She said the underlying technology will soon be used to counter another global scourge, cancer.

The Pfizer vaccine is one of the vaccines trusted by many people around the world, compared to other Corona virus vaccines. It was developed by Tureigi and her husband Ugur Shaheen via the German company Biontech. As for Pfizer, an American company is working on its production.

Originally, Tureiji had been working for the past two decades on a way to harness the body’s immune system to treat tumors, when she suddenly learned, late last year, of the emergence of a strange virus that infects people in China.

She and her husband, both Germans of Turkish origin, therefore decided to mobilize their efforts against the new threat and, in just 11 months, the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine was developed.

Since last December, tens of millions of people around the world have received the vaccine, which has exceeded 90% effectiveness, which is a resounding success for a previously produced drug that took many years.

“It pays to make bold decisions and trust them. If you have an exceptional team, you will be able to resolve any issues and obstacles that come your way in real time,” Torigi told The Associated Press. .

And with the Corona virus, the company rose to fame and its revenue increased as it seeks to use the money it raised to further its original goal of developing a new tool against cancer.

The vaccines made by Pfizer-Biontech use a substance called mRNA to deliver instructions to the human body and make proteins that prepare it to attack a specific virus. The same approach can be used to stimulate the immune system to fight tumors.

“We have several mRNA-based cancer vaccines,” said Torreje, chief medical officer of Biontek.

Responding to a question about when such a treatment will be available, Toregi said: “It is very difficult to predict the innovative development. But we plan to get it in a few years.”

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Toureggi and her husband Shaheen awarded one of the country’s highest honors on Friday in a ceremony attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel.