COVID19 oral vaccine. Photo: Courtesy of Tianjin University

US drugmaker Pfizer Inc has signed a deal with Germany's BioNTech SE to co-develop a potential vaccine for the ­coronavirus using BioNTech's mRNA-based drug development platform, the companies said on Tuesday.

The drugmakers will start the collaboration immediately and have signed a letter of intent for the vaccine's distribution outside China, they said in a joint statement.

The companies said they will finalize financial terms, and details regarding development, manufacturing and potential commercialization of the ­vaccine over the next few weeks.

The German government was trying to stop the US administration from ­persuading CureVac, another German drugmaker working on an experimental vaccine for the coronavirus, to move its research to the US. 

Pfizer and BioNTech will use research and development sites from both companies, including in the US and Germany, the companies said.

BioNTech on Monday struck a collaboration deal with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical over its rights in China to its experimental coronavirus vaccine, aiming to start testing on humans from late April.

The race is on to develop an inoculation, which is seen as by far the most effective tool to halt the global spread of the pathogen.