Currently stored between -80°C and -60°C, the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could be stored for two weeks between -25°C and -15°C without losing its effectiveness, assure the two laboratories.
- The two pharmaceutical companies have announced that their messenger RNA vaccine can be stored for 15 days in a common medical freezer while remaining stable.
As one of the three vaccines against Covid-19 currently authorized in the European Union, the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech has a drawback. It must be stored at freezing temperatures, between -80°C and -60°C, which requires the use of special freezers.
This obstacle to its deployment on European territory could however soon be removed. In a press release dated Friday, the two pharmaceutical companies assure that their messenger RNA vaccine can be stored for up to two weeks at higher temperatures: between -25°C and -15°C, the temperature of common medical freezers. .
Facilitate the transport and use of the vaccine
Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US federal agency that regulates the marketing of drugs, data that “demonstrate the stability of the vaccine” at higher temperatures.
According to Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, these new storage rules “could facilitate the management of our vaccine in pharmacies and allow greater flexibility in vaccination centers”. He also assured that Pfizer and BioNTech are working together on “new formulas that could make [leur] vaccine even easier to transport and use”. This is already the case with its competitor Moderna. Based on the same mRNA technology, the vaccine developed by the American biotechnology company can be stored for six months at -20°C and remain stable for thirty days when stored in a conventional refrigerator.
A clinical trial on pregnant women
The two laboratories also announced that they will soon launch a study in healthy pregnant women to determine the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. This new clinical trial will involve 4,000 women residing in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mozambique, South Africa, United Kingdom and Spain. Another clinical trial will also be launched “in the coming months” on children from 5 to 11 years old.
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