German pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced on Monday that it would be able to deliver the first doses of vaccine against the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 starting in October.
Omicron infection alone provides only “narrow” protection
BioNTech said a clinical trial of a vaccine adapted to Omikron variants BA.4 and BA.5 would begin before August. If approved by regulatory authorities, the first doses of the Corona vaccine could start shipping in October.
No Omicron vaccine has been approved in the EU yet
BioNTech had previously developed a Corona vaccine adapted to variant BA.1. The EU Medicines Agency (EMA) started the review process for this vaccine from manufacturers BioNTech and Pfizer in mid-June. The EMA is also reviewing an adapted vaccine from U.S. manufacturer Moderna, which, like the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, is based on mRNA technology. To date, no vaccine has been approved in the EU that also targets variants of the coronavirus.
Biontech increases sales and profits
BioNTech also presented its latest financial results on Monday. The company increased its first-half revenue by 30.1 percent to 9.57 billion euros compared to the first half of 2021. The company said Monday in Mainz, Germany, rose 37.2 percent to 5.37 billion euros.
However, when looking at the second quarter alone, there was a decline in both sales (down 39.8 percent to 3.20 billion euros) and profits (down 40.0 percent to 1.67 billion euros) compared to the same period last year. The Corona vaccine manufacturer attributed this to the fact that the dynamic development of the pandemic “led to a shift in orders and thus to fluctuations in quarterly sales.” The company reaffirmed its full-year 2022 guidance for Covid-19 vaccine sales of €13 billion to €17 billion.
- source: vienna.at/picture: gds.ro
This post has already been read 900 times!