Coronavirus: Pfizer says vaccine 95% effective in final analysis of clinical trial

Drugmaker Pfizer said a final analysis has revealed that its COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective in a clinical trial.

BREAKING: We are proud to announce, along with @BioNTech_Group, that the Phase 3 study of our #COVID19 vaccine candidate has met all primary efficacy endpoints.
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) November 18, 2020

The company, along with partner BioNTech, announced the update in a news release Wednesday.

“After conducting the final efficacy analysis in their ongoing Phase 3 study, their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, met all of the study’s primary efficacy endpoints,” the release said. “Analysis of the data indicates a vaccine efficacy rate of 95% (p<0.0001) in participants without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (first primary objective) and also in participants with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (second primary objective), in each case measured from seven days after the second dose.”

In the trial, which enrolled more than 43,000 participants, researchers recorded 170 coronavirus cases, the companies said. Of those cases, 162 occurred among placebo recipients, while just eight occurred in those who received the vaccine, the news release said.

Additionally, efficacy was more than 94% for adults over age 65, the companies said. An independent Data Monitoring Committee also “has not reported any serious safety concerns related to the vaccine,” according to the release.

The companies said they will submit an application “within days” to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

The announcement came two days after biotech company Moderna said an early analysis found its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was 94.5% effective in a clinical trial, according to The Associated Press. Pfizer also announced on Nov. 9 that early data suggested its vaccine was more than 90% effective.

We just announced that mRNA-1273, our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has met its primary efficacy endpoint in the first interim analysis of the Phase 3 COVE study.
Read more: https://t.co/vYWEy8CKCv pic.twitter.com/YuLubU1tlx
— Moderna (@moderna_tx) November 16, 2020

UPDATE: We are proud to announce, along with @BioNTech_Group, that our mRNA-based #vaccine candidate has, at an interim analysis, demonstrated initial evidence of efficacy against #COVID19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) November 9, 2020