Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has publically denied it is purposely mutating the Covid virus in an effort to develop vaccines for strains that do not yet exist in nature. The American multinational has been accused of conducting 'gain-of-function' - or directed evolution - research into the virus.
It comes after footage from a hidden camera 'sting' by activist group Project Veritas went viral on Twitter. In the a video - which has been watched more than 25 million times since it was released on January 25 - a man, who Project Veritas claim is Pfizer's Director of Research and Development, makes a number of claims.
It appears the man has been duped into a date with a Project Veritas journalist. He tells him that Pfizer was "exploring" deliberately mutating the coronavirus so that it could "preemptively develop new vaccines".
When asked if this is similar to gain-of-function research the man said: “It is definitely not gain-of-function. Directed evolution is a little different. You’re not supposed to do gain-of-function research with viruses."
In a second video, which has been watched more than 10 million times on Twitter, the man is confronted with the footage from the hidden camera. He claims he had been "trying to impress a person on a date by lying".
Gain-of-function research is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance its biological functions. Republican Senator Rand Paul has alleged US money was used to fund gain-of-function research at the lab in Wuhan - the centre of the unproven theory that Covid leaked from a lab in China.
US infectious diseases chief Dr Anthony Fauci has rejected this claim. Dr Fauci - who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022 and was the chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to 2022 - argues that the research into coronavirus did not qualify as gain-of-function research.
Directed evolution is a method used in protein engineering that mimics the process of natural selection to steer proteins or nucleic acids toward a user-defined goal.
Wikipedia describes Project Veritas of being a "far right" activist group that produces deceptively edited videos. However, Pfizer - the world's largest pharmaceutical company - has also been accused of deception in the past.
In September 2009, it pleaded guilty to the illegal marketing of arthritis drug valdecoxib (Bextra) and agreed to a $2.3billion settlement - the largest health care fraud settlement at that time. It was Pfizer's fourth such settlement in a decade.
Now, on January 26 this year and prompted by the the release of the Project Veritas video on January 25, Republican Senator for Florida Marco Rubio published an open letter to Albert Bourla, the President and CEO of Pfizer. The Senator asked "what efforts is Pfizer currently, or planning to, engage in to mutate the SARS-CoV-2 virus?".
Pfizer responded to the allegations being made by Project Veritas in a statement issued on its website on January 27. The statement doesn't directly reference the Project Veritas videos - and nor does it confirm or deny if the man in the video is its Director of Research and Development.
However, the Pfizer 'Responds to Research Claims' statement reads: "Allegations have recently been made related to gain of function and directed evolution research at Pfizer and the company would like to set the record straight.
"In the ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research. Working with collaborators, we have conducted research where the original SARS-CoV-2 virus has been used to express the spike protein from new variants of concern.
"This work is undertaken once a new variant of concern has been identified by public health authorities. This research provides a way for us to rapidly assess the ability of an existing vaccine to induce antibodies that neutralize a newly identified variant of concern.
"We then make this data available through peer-reviewed scientific journals and use it as one of the steps to determine whether a vaccine update is required. In addition, to meet U.S. and global regulatory requirements for our oral treatment, PAXLOVID™, Pfizer undertakes in vitro work (e.g., in a laboratory culture dish) to identify potential resistance mutations to nirmatrelvir, one of PAXLOVID’s two components.
"With a naturally evolving virus, it is important to routinely assess the activity of an antiviral. Most of this work is conducted using computer simulations or mutations of the main protease–a non-infectious part of the virus.
"In a limited number of cases when a full virus does not contain any known gain of function mutations, such virus may be engineered to enable the assessment of antiviral activity in cells. In addition, in vitro resistance selection experiments are undertaken in cells incubated with SARS-CoV-2 and nirmatrelvir in our secure Biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory to assess whether the main protease can mutate to yield resistant strains of the virus.
"It is important to note that these studies are required by U.S. and global regulators for all antiviral products and are carried out by many companies and academic institutions in the U.S. and around the world. Fact-based information rooted in sound science is vitally important to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and Pfizer remains committed to transparency and helping alleviate the devastating burden of this disease."
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