Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced the companies have received Fast Track Designation from the FDA for their mRNA-based combination vaccine candidate for influenza and COVID-19, which aims to help prevent two respiratory diseases with a single injection. Fast Track is a process designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of new drugs and vaccines intended to treat or prevent serious conditions and address unmet medical need.
Pfizer and BioNTech previously announced the start of a Phase 1 trial to examine the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of their combined influenza and COVID-19 candidate vaccine among healthy adults.
The vaccine candidate is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA platform technology and contains mRNA strands encoding the wild-type spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and the spike protein of the Omicron sublineages BA.4/BA.5, as well as mRNA strands encoding the hemagglutinin of four different influenza strains, recommended for the Northern Hemisphere 2022/23 by the World Health Organization.
A combined vaccine for influenza and COVID-19 has the potential to simplify immunization practices against two severe respiratory diseases caused by evolving viruses that require vaccine adaptation.
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