美国拒签再签 美国斥资近20亿美元签上亿剂疫苗合同

美国斥资近20亿美元签上亿剂疫苗合同  

The US government will pay nearly $2 billion to buy enough of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech BioNTech SE to innoculate 50 million people if it proves to be safe and effective
the panies said on Wednesday.
The contract for 100 million doses of the vaccine amounts to a $39 price tag for what is likely to be a o-dose course of treatment.
The contract is the most the United States has agreed to spend on a vaccine
although previous deals with other vaccine makers were intended to also help pay for development costs.
这份合同是美国购买疫苗的最高总价，之前美国与其他疫苗制造商的交易还包括帮助支付研发成本。
Pfizer and BioNTech will not receive any money from the government unless their vaccine succeeds in large clinical trials and can be successfully manufactured
according to a Pfizer spokeswoman.
Under the agreement
the government would also have an option to procure an additional 500 million doses. Pfizer said the price for the additional doses would be negotiated separately if the US orders them.
The vaccine
if successful
will be made available to Americans at no cost
although their health insurance may be charged
the US department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said.
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla has said the pany intends to make a profit on the vaccine. He has also said that spending its own money
rather than government money to develop the vaccine should help speed the process.
Pfizer hopes to start its pivotal late-stage trial of the vaccine as early as next week
pending regulatory approvals
Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said in an interview.
"We're already starting to the process of allocating vaccine vials to a variety of different clinical sites in the US and elsewhere
" Dolsten said. "We're looking at the map and getting good advice from the CDC. Where do we have the greatest incidence of COVID-19 disease?"
Vaccine trials are more efficient if conducted in areas where high rates of active infection are prevelant.
The vaccine has already shown promise in early-stage small studies in humans
producing the type of neutralizing antibodies needed to fight the virus. In those trials
subjects received o doses of the vaccine.
The Pfizer/BioNTech candidate is one of the most advanced of over 150 vaccines being developed against COVID-19
which has claimed more than 600
000 lives globally and crippled economies.
The vaccine utilizes the chemical messenger RNA to instruct cells to make proteins that mimic the surface of the coronavirus
which the immune system sees as a foreign invader and mounts an attack. Although the technology has been around for years
there has never been an approved messenger RNA (mRNA)vaccine.
The Trump administration has agreed to spend billions of dollars for the development and procurement of potential vaccines under its Operation Warp Speed program.
The aim is to produce vaccines that can end the pandemic by protecting billions of people from infection or severe illness
and governments have signed deals with drugmakers to secure supplies of various candidates. Whether any will succeed remains far from clear.
Other vaccine makers that have signed deals to receive US government funding for their efforts include Moderna Inc
AstraZeneca Plc and Novavax Inc.
Pfizer said it will deliver the doses if the product receives emergency use authorization or US approval as early as October after demonstrating safety and efficacy in a large Phase III clinical trial involving up to 30
000 subjects.
Pfizer and BioNTech currently expect to manufacture up to 100 million doses globally by the end of 2020
and potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021
subject to final dose selection from their clinical trial.
On Monday
the panies agreed to supply the United Kingdom with 30 million doses of the vaccine candidate
but did not disclose a price.
Pfizer shares were up nearly 5%
while BioNTech's US-listed shares were up 13%.