(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE said on Wednesday they will develop a potential mRNA-based vaccine for the prevention of viral infection shingles, collaborating for the third time after the success of their COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer partnered with BioNTech in 2018 for an Influenza vaccine and again in 2020 to develop the COVID-19 vaccine that has been used across the world and has brought in billions in sales for the companies.
The companies expect to begin clinical trials of the shingles vaccine, which will combine antigen technology recognized by Pfizer scientists along with BioNTech’s mRNA platform technology, in the second half of 2022.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, typically develops in older adults who had chicken pox, or the varicella-zoster virus, when they were younger. Its hallmark is a painful rash that clears up within a month in most cases. In some instances, however, it leads to nerve pain that can linger for much longer.
Under terms of the collaboration, BioNTech will receive $225 million in upfront payment and be eligible to for future regulatory and sales milestone payments of up to $200 million. BioNTech will pay Pfizer $25 million for the company’s proprietary antigen technology.
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
