Coronavirus, Farmindustria: 'Vaccine possible at the end of the year'.
“Many pharmaceutical companies are in an advanced stage of testing for a vaccine against Covid-19. It could be a matter of a few months”. This is the prediction of the president of Farmindustria, Massimo Scaccabarozzi, in an interview with 'Class Cube'. “The current situation makes me optimistic. Today there are almost 200 vaccine prototypes – he points out – under study: of these, 42 are already being tested on humans and 10 have entered phase three, the last step of testing. The number remains encouraging and I hope at this point that more than one vaccine can be available in a short time”.
“There are two or three vaccines that are very far along in the testing process – he continues – that could conclude the process even in the first months of 2021 or even at the end of 2020. We must be cautious but there is this possibility, even if a cure will not be available to everyone immediately, as claimed by the WHO: it will take time to produce a fair number of doses. The first ones will however be available to subjects at risk, such as healthcare workers”.
– “Since the production process of a vaccine is not short, some companies further along in the studies – explains Scaccabarozzi – have already started producing it, taking on the risk of failure. Starting production without waiting for positive results from a study is a great sign of responsibility on the part of pharmaceutical companies, in a particularly complex moment. If the clinical studies reach the end and obtain the green light for marketing, we will have the first doses of the vaccine; otherwise, the pharmaceutical companies themselves will bear the losses due to the failure”.
For the number one of Farmindustria, "it is not a race between countries or even between companies. It is a race against time. We have seen in this period that competing companies today collaborate with a great sense of responsibility, making their production facilities available to each other. The vaccine will therefore be for everyone". On this front, "Italy is doing its part both from the point of view of research and production. As well as for other therapies, monoclonal antibodies, drugs, plasma".
Article published on 10 October 2020 - 15:08
