Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-flu combo vaccine misses on trial goal
A COMBINATION Covid-flu vaccination developed by Pfizer and BioNTech missed on one of its goals in a final-stage trial, a disappointment for the companies trying to make further use of the technology that succeeded in the pandemic.
The vaccine failed to show it was at least as effective as a standard shot in generating an immune response against the influenza B strain, the companies said in a statement on Friday (Aug 16). The shot performed better with influenza A and Covid.
Pfizer said the two companies are looking into tweaks to the vaccine that might boost its effectiveness against influenza B.
Pfizer shares fell 0.3 per cent before US markets opened, while BioNTech’s depositary receipts lost 4 per cent.
What Bloomberg Intelligence says
The Phase 3 trial failure of Pfizer-BioNTech’s combination flu/Covid vaccine may put the partners at a disadvantage versus Moderna, which succeeded in Phase 3 in June. We see the combination shots as an important marketing and commercialisation tool for the three companies to boost penetration of the respiratory-disease vaccine, helping them rival the likes of GSK and Sanofi. A reworked combination may set Pfizer-BioNTech back by at least two years, and would need a new Phase 3 trial.
The results complicate Pfizer’s efforts to offset the drop in sales of its BioNTech-partnered Covid vaccine, which fell more than 70 per cent last year. Moderna, maker of a rival Covid vaccine, reported positive late-stage results with a Covid-flu combination of its own in June.
Pfizer’s study, which enrolled more than 8,000 adults, compared the combination shot against an approved flu vaccine. The company also disclosed results from a smaller, earlier-stage trial in which a second-generation combination vaccine led to a sufficient immune response against the A and B strains of influenza. BLOOMBERG
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