By Chris Wack

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said Wednesday they have signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense to meet the federal government's Operation Warp Speed program goal to begin delivering 300 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.

Under the agreement, the U.S. government would receive 100 million doses of BNT162, the Covid-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, after it receives approval or emergency use authorization from Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer would make the vaccine.

The U.S. government would pay the companies $1.95 billion upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses. The U.S. government also can acquire as much as 500 million extra doses. Americans would receive the vaccine for free.

The BNT162 program is based on BioNTech's proprietary mRNA technology and supported by Pfizer's global vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities. The BNT162 vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical studies and aren't currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine development program is evaluating at least four experimental vaccines. If the studies are successful, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to seek emergency use authorization or some form of regulatory approval as early as October.

The companies currently expect to manufacture globally up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021, subject to final dose selection from their clinical trial.

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2020 07:40 ET (11:40 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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