The First COVID-19 Vaccine Approved by FDA

On August 23, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. As the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by FDA, it has been marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older. Since Dec. 11, 2020, this vaccine has been available under emergency use authorization (EUA) in individuals 16 years of age and older, and the authorization was expanded to include those 12 through 15 years of age on May 10, 2021.

Comirnaty contains messenger RNA (mRNA), which is used by the body to make a mimic of one of the proteins in the virus that causes COVID-19. The result of a person receiving this vaccine is that their immune system will ultimately react defensively to the virus that causes COVID-19. The mRNA in Comirnaty is only present in the body for a short time and is not incorporated into - nor does it alter - an individual’s genetic material. Comirnaty is administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart.

The most commonly reported side effects by those clinical trial participants who received Comirnaty were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, chills, and fever. The Comirnaty Prescribing Information includes a warning about these risks.

To support the FDA’s approval decision, the agency analyzed effectiveness and safety data from approximately 20,000 vaccine and 20,000 placebo recipients ages 16 and older who did not have evidence of the COVID-19 virus infection within a week of receiving the second dose. Based on results from the clinical trial, the vaccine was 91% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease. The vaccine is effective in preventing COVID-19 and potentially serious outcomes including hospitalization and death.

The FDA’s approval of this vaccine is a milestone as people all over the world continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine now becomes Pfizer’s highest-selling product. The sales revenue reached 7.8 billion US dollars in the second quarter. The cumulative sales in the first half of the year were 11.3 billion US dollars. It is expected to achieve approximately 33.5 billion US dollars in revenue for the whole year.

In the Greater China region, Fosun Pharma announced a strategic cooperation agreement with BioNTech as early as March 16, 2020. Fosun Pharma was authorized by BioNTech to exclusively develop and commercialize vaccine products against COVID-19 in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan based on its proprietary mRNA technology platform. In the process of global joint research and development, Fosun Pharma has conducted in-depth cooperation with BioNTech in clinical research, pharmacological data, and pharmacovigilance. The successful development of Comirnaty contains the wisdom of the Chinese scientific research team. On May 9, 2021, Fosun Pharma stated that it plans to invest in a joint venture with BioNTech to realize the localized production and commercialization of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine products. Once the approval is passed, Fosun Pharma and BioNTech will quickly promote domestic localized production and make a domestically produced mRNA vaccine.