90-Second Read: Pfizer furthers pneumococcal efforts, remains ‘comfortable’ taking on emerging threats: vaccine chief

As Pfizer endeavors to stymie a suite of bacterial infections, the COVID-19 vaccine maker continues to keep an eye on emerging public health threats. At the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases conference in Copenhagen, Pfizer revealed that its next-gen candidate, mellifluously named PF-07872412 or 25vPnC, produced stronger immune responses than the approved 20-variant vaccine Prevnar 20. Pfizer's ultimate goal is to make a vaccine that hits 35 pneumococcus variants, known as serotypes, to cover 98% or 99% of all infections, the drugmaker's vaccine R&D chief Annaliesa Anderson, Ph.D., told Fierce Biotech. Wyeth, which Pfizer acquired in 2009 for a whopping $68 billion, released its first pneumococcal vaccine, effective against seven variants of the bacteria, in 2000.

Another vaccine for Lyme disease also missed in phase 3 earlier this year, which Pfizer and partner Valneva attributed to lower-than-expected cases of the tick-borne illness. Anderson is keenly aware of the new pathogens now dominating the news cycle, a Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and an Ebola epidemic in central Africa, now labeled a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. As the maker, along with partner BioNTech, of the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, Comirnaty, Pfizer is not hesitant to pitch in when health crises emerge, Anderson told Fierce. The pharma giant today shared data from a phase 2 study of its latest vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, also called pneumococcus, which is designed to protect babies from 25 different variants of the pathogen.

Pneumococcal vaccines work by generating antibodies that cling to the bacteria's sugary surface. Pfizer recognized this challenge even before Prevnar 20 was licensed, she added, and the company put together an internal team of immunologists, bacteriologists and vaccine engineers to craft a solution. But she's also excited by Pfizer's continuing work in established disease areas like respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19, which forms the other pillar of the company's vaccine portfolio. We keep an eye on what's going on out there, and if public health emergencies happen, we are certainly comfortable to step in and see where we can help.

The pneumococcal vaccines have got an incredibly safe safety profile. That includes a shot for Clostridium difficile infection that failed a phase 3 trial in 2022 in adults 50 or older, which Pfizer is now pursuing in a narrower group of adults aged 65 and up. But fighting infectious diseases is like playing Whack-A-Mole, with new threats popping up at an ever-increasing pace.