Shingles is latest target of Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech
Pfizer partnered with BioNTech in 2018 for an influenza vaccine and again in 2020 to develop the Covid-19 vaccine that has been used across the world and has brought in billions in sales for the companies.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they will develop a potential mRNA-based vaccine for the prevention of viral infection shingles, collaborating for the third time after the success of their Covid-19 vaccine.
Pfizer partnered with BioNTech in 2018 for an influenza vaccine and again in 2020 to develop the Covid-19 vaccine that has been used across the world and has brought in billions in sales for the companies.
The companies expect to begin clinical trials of the shingles vaccine, which will combine antigen technology recognized by Pfizer scientists along with BioNTech's mRNA platform technology, in the second half of 2022.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, typically develops in older adults who had chicken pox, or the varicella-zoster virus, when they were younger. Its hallmark is a painful rash that clears up within a month in most cases. In some instances, however, it leads to nerve pain that can linger for much longer.
Under terms of the collaboration, Germany's BioNTech will receive $225m (€199m) in upfront payment and be eligible for future regulatory and sales milestone payments of up to $200m. BioNTech will pay Pfizer $25m for the company's proprietary antigen technology.
Meanwhile, shares in biotech company Valneva fell again in Paris trade on Wednesday, declining for the seventh day in a row due to a growing belief amongst investors that the Covid-19 Omicron variant might lessen the need for mass vaccination.
It did gain more than 200% a year in 2021 and 2020 as Valneva's vaccine candidate came increasingly closer to approval. It is still awaiting a green light for its shot in the EU and Britain.
