By Jensen Werley – Reporter, Denver Business Journal Mar 18, 2020, 4:10pm EDT
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced Tuesday that it is co-developing a potential coronavirus vaccine for the COVID-19 outbreak, and told Denver Business Journal that it will likely utilize its Pfizer Boulder campus for talent and R&D.
The core research team is located at Pfizer’s Pear River facility in New York, a spokesperson told Denver Business Journal in an email. But the company is “looking to marshal talent and experience from across our R&D organization, and the Boulder site is a key R&D hub” for it.
The spokesperson added that Pfizer is continuing to expand its pool of colleagues working on its pipeline programs aimed at helping the COVID-19 pandemic. While specific plans are not in place at the Boulder site yet, Pfizer has about 200 employees there.
Pfizer announced is co-developing and distributing the vaccine with German company BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX). It’s a potential mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, developed by BioNTech. The collaboration is meant to accelerate its development.
The vaccine is expected to enter clinical testing by the end of April.
Pfizer and BioNTech entered into a collaboration agreement in 2018 to develop mRNA-based vaccines for the prevention of influenza.
Multiple research and development sites will be utilized by both companies.
Collaboration will begin immediately, with finalized details regarding financial terms and commercialization to form over the next few weeks.
“We are proud that our ongoing, successful relationship with BioNTech gives our companies the resiliency to mobilize our collective resources with extraordinary speed in the face of this worldwide challenge,” Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer and president of worldwide research for development & medical, said in a prepared statement. “We believe that by pairing Pfizer’s development, regulatory and commercial capabilities with BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine technology and expertise as one of the industry leaders, we are reinforcing our commitment to do everything we can to combat this escalating pandemic, as quickly as possible.
Last year, Pfizer acquired Boulder-based Array Biopharma.