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This illustrated image taken on November 23, 2020 shows a bottle that says “Vovine Covid-19” and a syringe next to the Pfizer and Biontech logo.
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the full use of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine against the Covid-19 virus, regulator Janet Woodcock’s representative reported at a press, that the biological one would change of name to be called the Comirnaty vaccine.
Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the US
– Dra. Janet Woodcock (@DrWoodcockFDA) August 23, 2021
“FDA approves Comirnaty, which was previously known as Pfizer-BioNTech,” says the U.S. entity’s official website. “The FDA’s approval of this vaccine is a milestone as we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. While this and other vaccines have met the FDA’s stringent scientific standards for authorization emergency use, such as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very sure that this vaccine meets the high standards of safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality, ”explained from the FDA in a communiqué.
The FDA’s interim commissioner also said that, “although millions of people have already safely received the vaccine against COVID-19, we recognize that, for some, the approval of the vaccine by the “The FDA can instill additional confidence in vaccination. The vaccine, which will now be marketed under the Comirnaty brand, is the first to receive full approval.”
The FDA emphasized that the biologic developed by these pharmaceuticals may continue to be used in the preventive treatment of Covid-19 in people over 16, but that it will also remain available as emergency therapy (US) for people with 12 to 15 years. In addition, it established its availability in a third dose of booster in people with weak immune systems, (immunocompromised).
“People can be sure that this vaccine meets the FDA’s gold standards in terms of safety, efficacy and quality of manufacture it concerns. This is a crucial moment in the fight against the pandemic, as this is a of our greatest weapons against the virus “. The regulator’s spokeswoman said.
Comirnaty: Why this name?
According to Tekcrispy, the name given to the commercial vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech is not easy to say or remember. However, although it does not seem allusive to the immunizer, the name ‘Comirnaty’, has its reason.
According to the Brand Institute, the company tasked with finding a name for the Pfizer vaccine, the nomenclature sought to be an amalgam of a number of concepts describing the compound.
“The entire Brand Institute and Drug Safety Institute team has been proud to have partnered with two amazing companies like Pfizer and BioNTech, to carry out the development of their COVID-19 vaccine name. COMIRNATY®, and from its non-proprietary name (p-INN), tozinamerán, “said Brand Institute President and CEO James L. Dettore.
“Naming a product that has such a profound global impact is incredible, as well as being an opportunity for which we are truly grateful,” he added in statements quoted by Europa Press.
Explains Scott Piergrossi, president of creativity at the Brand Institute, who created the name, that Comirnaty “represents a combination of the terms COVID-19, messenger RNA, community and immunity.” And analyze it as follows:
Co = COVID-19 (which in turn means Coronavirus Disease 2019, the year it was discovered)
Mirna = mRNA, the fragments of genetic code that tell cells to build proteins. In this case, the peak protein COVID-19 and ti = some combination of community and immunity.
“That’s what I love about Comirnaty, it touches on a lot of the key points we were trying to convey,” said Piergrossi, who recalled that the generic name of the drug is tozinamerán and that the first name of the vaccine in the experimental stage it was BNT162b2, a little harder to pronounce and remember.
It should be noted, given that all drugs with generic names must be monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pfizer vaccine “Cominarty”, formerly known under the generic tozinamerán, had to develop – in accordance with nomenclature standards, which the international health organization divides into two parts.
Piergrossi explains that the first part, according to WHO standards calls for not using a prefix as a marketing tool, is something that the pharmaceutical company comes to invent, and that in this case is the “tozina”. “It must be a blank canvas,” he said, adding that the suffix “meren” is used for mRNA vaccines, and that “caine” is the suffix for local anesthetics. for asthma medications.
In addition, the spokesman for the institute noted that finding the new name for the vaccine was the result of much research, a work that began in April 2020, and within the issues of similarity to other names of generic drugs, intellectual property, the availability of internet domains, and a conscientious study of linguistics in more than 30 languages were considered, to avoid misleading or offensive distortions with the new appointment.
“Creating pharmaceutical names involves a lot of money and searching in databases. We are fighting hundreds of thousands of existing names, and any brand new name must be different from everything else in these databases,” Piergrossi stressed. .
What relevance does the new name have?
Tekcrispy says that the importance of the name change of the immunizer is mainly due to the times that humanity is going through. The timing of the pandemic has made people around the world look forward to everything that happens with pharmaceuticals and the development of vaccines, drugs and treatments for Covid-19. Any adjustment, change or progress in its preparation, are data of interest to consumers.
He cites this medium as really, the name “Comirnaty” it’s not the most memorable for a vaccine, but it will help identify it in the long run, as Pfizer and BioNTech have done so far.
But in practice, the nomenclature is unlikely to make much of a difference to us. We call it as we call it, it will remain the same vaccine and will now be officially available throughout the US.
Finally, it should be noted that with the free route in US territory to the Comirnaty vaccine, Pfizer has a great advantage over its other competitors, who do not yet have the full approval of their drugs for Covid -19, so it’s a good time for the lab to position its brand.
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