Coronavirus: Final trial shows high efficacy for Pfizer vaccine candidate

The final efficacy analysis of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine candidate shows even more promise than the preliminary analysis released last week.

According to a news release, vaccine candidate BNT162b2 showed 95 percent efficacy in patients not previously infected with COVID-19 and also those who have previously been infected beginning 28 days after the first dose which meets all of the study’s primary efficacy standpoints.

The analysis was based on 170 cases of COVID-10, 162 of which were in the placebo group and only eight were in the group who received BNT162b2. It found that efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race, and ethnicity demographics. In patients over 65 years of age, the efficacy was 94 percent, the release says.

Pfizer will seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within days, the release says.

Just over a week ago, Pfizer and BioNTech made waves by announcing that the initial efficacy analysis showed that the candidate was 90 percent effective.

Earlier this week, Moderna said that the vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 showed an efficacy rate of 94.5 percent in a Phase 3 study. The company says it intends to seek emergency use authorization for the candidate “in the coming weeks.”

A primary analysis of the vaccine candidate suggests a broadly consistent safety and efficacy profile across all the evaluated subgroups, according to Moderna.

In July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services placed an initial order for 100 million doses of the vaccine candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech for $1.95 billion after it is manufactured and either obtains approval or emergency use authorization from the FDA. The federal government will also be able to acquire up to an additional 500 million doses and American patients will receive the vaccine free, according to the release.