PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A major vaccine trial for COVID-19 is underway by the drug manufacturer Pfizer, with the company saying that the first results may be available in June.
WOODTV8 reports that the company is wrapping up week three of a clinical trial for a vaccine, with 360 volunteers participating. Next week the company will be moving into stage two for the trial, adding on more than 8,000 more volunteers.
On May 5th Pfizer publicly announced that it was beginning human trials for a BNT162 vaccine program with Southwest Michigan playing a big part. Vaccine samples will be produced at Pfizer’s facility in Portage, the largest manufacturing site in the company’s network.
If the vaccine proves successful then the Portage facility would likely become the hub for manufacturing and distribution.
Four types of the vaccine are being tested for effectiveness and patient response by Pfizer.
Normally the steps toward getting a vaccine to market can take more than a decade, but Pfizer and other manufacturers are scrambling to make one available by later this year or early 2021.
The process for developing a vaccine involves using mRNA genetic material from the SARS virus, which is closely related to COVID-19, to create a protein. The goal among researchers is finding a protein that can deliver the genetic material to a person’s cells, creating resistance to COVID-19.
Pfizer says that staff have been able to artificially synthesize the mRNA sequence so that no biological material will be used in the product.
Right now none of the volunteers involved in the trial are from Michigan, with the bulk of participants living in New York, Maryland, and Germany.
