Washington, August 22: The vaccine candidate developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech showed promising results in early phase of trials. The mRNA-based potential silver bullet against coronavirus was found to be effective on most participants in phase 1 of the clinical tests, as per the initial set of data released. EpiVacCorona Vaccine: After 'Sputnik V', Second Russian COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Promise, Says Report.

This was the second candidate - BNT162b2 - tested by Pfizer-BioNTech. A total of 30,000 Americans are registered for the trials, but only a portion of them were involved in phase one of the clinical tests. The vaccine succeeded in inducing immunity against COVID-19, while showing no adverse reaction or side-effects.

Less than 20 percent of those induced with the vaccine showed symptoms of mild fever. Their bodies, however, succeeded in developing immunity against the virus causing coronavirus.

“We are especially pleased to offer these early data showing our vaccine candidate’s promising safety and immunogenicity profile from the US trial and we look forward to sharing T cell immune response data from the German trial in the near future," said a statement issued by the vaccine developers.

Following the successful test results, the company is eyeing at completing phase 2 of the clinical trials by next month and beginning phase 3 by October. In the same month, it is also expected to receive approval for beginning mass production of the vaccine.

A vaccine announcement before the November 3 presidential elections is expected to boost President Donald Trump's chances of a re-election. Pfizer-BioNTech venture has already inked a $2 billion agreement with the US government to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine by end of the current year. The company is targeting to roll out 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine by end of 2021.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 22, 2020 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).