Pharma giants Pfizer and BioNtech have urged the US Food and Drug administration department to allow them to expand the Covid-19 vaccine trials.
The 2 companies have suggested to take forward the Phase 3 trials on as many as 44,000 individuals with diverse backgrounds to collect more safety and efficacy data. Currently, both companies in their joint statement claimed that they will complete the trial on 30,000 individuals by next week.
The proposed expansion, if approved, will allow the companies to carry out trials on people as young as 16 and on people with HIV, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B.
Meanwhile, both companies are likely to be among the first in the US to report efficacy data from Phase 3 trials; they are expecting a conclusive readout on the efficacy of the vaccine candidate by the end of October.