CDI supports Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Work

The Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) is providing facility and logistical support to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for their fast-track COVID-19 vaccine development.

The CDI is providing training and facility access to their Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory at the Nutley campus, where Pfizer has more than a dozen workers currently working at the CDI on the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

CDI and Pfizer are discussing an expansion of this work scope to include virus characterization and drug development.

“Partnering with Pfizer in this kind of collaboration shows the value of the CDI’s contributions to science,” said David Perlin, Ph.D., the chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the CDI. “In the time of COVID-19, it’s these kind of partnerships that accelerate discovery and clinical advances.”

Last month Pfizer announced it had struck a deal with the U.S. Government to supply up to 600 million doses of an mRNA vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, if and when approvals are granted.