Perhaps Turkish-born German Agur Shaheen and his wife Ozlem Turichi could not have imagined that the business that brought his daughters together for years would save the world from an epidemic that has caused hundreds thousands of lives lost, in addition to generating billions of dollars in profits.
The vaccine, developed by the biotechnology company BioNTech, in cooperation with the American company Pfizer, has shownPositive results in the third critical phase of clinical trials to ensure the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Once the vaccine’s promising results were announced, the company’s shares rose 23.4%, topping $ 21 billion, according to the British Guardian newspaper’s website.
Biontech was founded in 2008 by Agur Shaheen and his wife, Oslem Turici, with the participation of Austrian oncologist Christoph Huber, with the aim of developing a treatment for cancer by modifying cells that target genes that resist the disease. smart.
In an interview he gave to German director Magazin, Shaheen said the company decided to direct its resources towards an attempt to treat the Corona virus, as soon as it announced its emergence in China.
With the arrival of the virus in Germany and its announcement of the imposition of comprehensive lockdowns in March, the company had already reached 20 possible vaccines against the virus, to begin testing the vaccines offered through a research program called Lightspeed. with the participation of 500 scientific researchers.
The new vaccine against Corona is based on modern technology, which involves injecting part of the genetic makeup of the virus into a person in order to “train” the immune system.
Shaheen previously told Echo Online on YouTube that his company, which employs 1,300 people and is headquartered in Mainz, Germany, would have had access to the vaccine on its own, but that it “had difficulty distributing it.” “.
US company Pfizer paid $ 185 million to develop a vaccine against Corona, and it will pay another $ 563 million when completed. The current cooperation between the German Biontech and the American Pfizer to deal with the Corona virus is not the first, as the two companies have been working together since 2018 to develop influenza vaccines.
The German company Biontech and its American partner are preparing to obtain a license in the USA And Europe, in order to bring it to market as quickly as possible.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
‘Pass out quickly’
Initial studies in China, Germany, Britain and other countries concluded that patients infected with the emerging coronavirus develop protective antivirus bodies as part of the body’s immune system, but it appears that these bodies only remain effective for a few months. Daniel Altman, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said that “their effect (self-developed protective bodies) often wanes rapidly”.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
Two options for vaccine developers
Experts say the rapidly weak immunity poses major problems for vaccine developers, public health authorities as well as those seeking to distribute these vaccines to protect their populations from future epidemics. “For vaccines to be truly effective there are two options: either the need to develop more robust and longer term protection … or the vaccine must be obtained regularly,” said Stephen Griffin, assistant professor of medicine. at the University of Leeds.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
World Race
More than 100 companies and research teams are looking to develop vaccines, at least 17 of which are currently being tested in humans. The American company Moderna announced on Tuesday July 15, 2020 that clinical trials would enter their final phase on July 27. Moderna is thus the first company to reach this stage. Russia has announced that it has completed the first clinical trials of an experimental vaccine tested in humans, which are expected to be fully completed by the end of July.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
Two doses are “better” than one
In preclinical trials on pigs to monitor the effect of a vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company (AstraZeneca) to treat Covid-19, known as (AZD 1222), it was found that two doses of the vaccine contributed to the antibody response better than a dose. However, so far, no data has been recorded from human vaccine trials to show whether an immune response to the antibody will be strong enough or long-lasting.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
Time pressure
Geoffrey Arnold, visiting professor of microbiology at the University of Oxford in Britain and a former Sanofi Pasteur expert, said the development and very rapid testing of potential Corona virus vaccines had only been going on for six months. , which is not long enough to show how long the vaccines could provide. Experts predict that it will take between 12 and 18 months to produce a safe and effective vaccine early in development.
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Decreased immune response is the biggest obstacle to developing a Corona vaccine
Booster doses
According to Griffin-Arnold, one approach could be that when these vaccines are in development, authorities should consider receiving booster doses for millions of people at regular intervals or even combining two or more vaccines for each person in order to ” get the best possible protection. However, this can be a major practical challenge. “Giving the whole world one dose of the vaccine is one thing … and giving them multiple doses is quite another,” he said.
