(CNN) — Representatives of pharmaceutical and biotech companies working to develop covid-19 vaccines said during a hearing in Congress on Tuesday that they are still on track to have a possible vaccine by the end of this year or early next year, and one of the companies even expect to have a list in September.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceutical research and development for AstraZeneca, told the House of Representatives Commission on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that the AstraZeneca vaccine could be available “anytime from September ”If everything goes well in clinical trials.
When asked if he would be available by the end of the year in case the vaccine candidate was approved for emergency, Pangalos said: “Yes, we have it. So if we have efficacy data, we hope to have it at any time starting in September. ”
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Preliminary results of a Phase 1/2 trial of the vaccine against coronavirus Developed by the University of Oxford in association with AstraZeneca suggest that it is safe and induces an immune response.
The vaccine triggered an antibody response within 28 days and a T-cell response within 14 days, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday. The candidate vaccine is still in clinical trials.
The modern biotech company also has goals for the fall.
“We hope that in the fall or at the end of the year we will have to submit data to the FDA for a decision on whether to approve it,” said Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, during Tuesday’s hearing.
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“We also hope to have millions of vaccine doses available at that time,” Hoge said.
As for the Pfizer vaccine candidate, “we have a clear line of sight and clinical pathway to deliver up to 100 million doses of vaccine products on a commercial scale in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses of our vaccine in 2021” John Young, commercial director for Pfizer, said during the hearing.
The Johnson & Johnson and Merck companies appeared to have longer terms. Representatives of those companies said at the hearing that their goals remain to deliver a covid-19 vaccine next year if all goes well in the trials.
(Credit: BEN STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)
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“We will begin our Phase 3 in September,” said Dr. Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs for Janssen Vaccines at Johnson & Johnson.
“We are aiming to have at least results by the beginning of 2021, as well as 100 million doses by the end of March,” Douoguih said.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, Merck’s executive vice president and chief patient officer, said at Tuesday’s hearing that the company does not expect to have a licensed product until 2021, at the earliest.
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