The executives of the German company BioNTech, which has developed the Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine together with the American Pfizer, will receive the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstadter Prize next year. This is stated in the message of the University of Frankfurt. Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
The prize was awarded to the General Director of the German company BioNTech, Ugur Shahin, together with his wife, Director of Medical Research, Ozlem Tyurechi. Together with them, the award will be received by the senior vice president of the company Catalin Kariko, who has worked at BioNTech since 2013.
“Through their uncompromising fundamental research efforts and strong and quick response to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, they have developed a vaccine to effectively combat the raging pandemic,” it said.
The university also noted that scientists have proved to other researchers and around the world the great potential of using mRNA (matrix ribonucleic acid) for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes. Previously, the cover letter says, mRNA was considered too unstable and therefore unsuitable for getting enough protein.
The messenger mRNA molecule contains information about the antigen – the protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it is he who is the causative agent of the coronavirus that has spread around the world. This causes the body to make proteins similar to those of a virus, triggering an immune response. In particular, on the basis of mRNA, in addition to Pfizer, the Moderna vaccine was created.
In November, the developers reported that the drug from Pfizer and BioNTech is 95% effective. Studies in Qatar and Israel have also shown this coronavirus vaccine to be effective against British and South African strains. According to a study from Qatar, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in the case of the South African strain, immunity after vaccination with two doses of the drug from Pfizer occurred in 72-75% of the subjects, and in the case of the British strain, this figure reached 87-89%.
The Pfizer vaccine has not yet been registered in Russia. The company is still studying the issue of registration, said Alexander Chepinoga, Pfizer's external communications manager in Russia and Belarus, in early July. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, reported that several companies had applied for registration in Russia, after passing the checks, their vaccines would go into civilian circulation.
The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstadter Prize is considered one of the most prestigious German awards in the field of medicine, the prize fund is € 120,000, according to the website of the Goethe University. The award is presented annually in mid-March in Frankfurt. It has been awarded to scientists since 1952 for special merits in the fields in which Ehrlich was engaged – immunology, cancer research, microbiology, etc. For all the time it was awarded to 128 scientists.
