Pfizer Inc. seeks to expand its vaccine business by becoming a leader in the new gene-based technology behind its successful Covid-19 shots.
Pfizer will develop new shots using the technology called mRNA, to target other viruses and pathogens outside the coronavirus, CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview. He said the company’s scientists and engineers have gained a decade of experience with the Covid-19 vaccine with German BioNTech SE over the past year, and are ready to pursue mRNA alone.
“There is a technology that has a dramatic impact and dramatic potential,” he said. Bourla said. “We are currently in the best position to take it to the next level because of our scope and our expertise.”
Pfizer will accelerate the development and development of the technology, with the addition of at least 50 employees whose mandate will include mRNA, and it will leverage the new mRNA manufacturing network it has put together over the past year to compete.
“We are ahead now and we plan to maintain the gap,” he said of the mRNA vaccine market.