Scientists and Researchers Working Around the Clock to Combat Coronavirus

“We will continue doing what we do best -- find new therapeutics to solve this crisis. Let’s all focus on this mission and not politics.” – Dr. Jeremy Levin, Biocentury

Scientists and researchers at America’s biopharmaceutical companies are working around the clock to develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to protect individuals and communities across the globe from the novel coronavirus. Here’s what media reports and others are saying about this unprecedented effort:

• Several small drugmakers, including Moderna, Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Novavax Inc … are already publicly trying to develop a vaccine. – The Wall Street Journal
   
• “Small and large companies have embarked upon an unprecedented effort to produce more effective diagnostics, to test existing therapeutics and develop novel vaccines and treatments.” Opinion by Dr. Jeremy Levin, Timmerman Report 
   
• U.S. health regulators have approved a new coronavirus test – developed by Roche – that will “speed up by tenfold the ability to test patients,” helping fill significant gap to help American efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. – Bloomberg
   
• “[T]his crisis brings home the incalculable value of a world-class pharmaceutical sector,” – Opinion by Rich Lowry POLITICO Magazine
   
• Maryland-based Novavax is aiming to make a coronavirus vaccine in as little as three months, although such vaccines can take years to develop. The company made an Ebola vaccine in 90 days. – Fox Business
   
• “One of the things we’re seeing, from outbreak to outbreak … is we’re getting faster at using platform technologies to build something that can be tried in humans sooner than we were the last time,” – BIO’s Phyllis Arthur, ABC7 Denver
   
• Gilead has already deployed a promising antiviral treatment in a compassionate use program to patients with COVID-19 in Washington state. – Fortune
   
• Vir Biotech entered a collaboration with WuXi Biologics to advance and produce human monoclonal antibodies for the potential treatment of COVID-19 – Nasdaq 
   
• “The coronavirus is no match for science or the brilliant scientists and researchers working at America’s biopharmaceutical companies, both large and small.” – Opinion by Jim Greenwood, Morning Consult
   
• Regeneron and Sanofi are racing to launch clinical trials exploring whether their arthritis drug could treat symptoms of novel coronavirus infections. –  The Wall Street Journal
   
• “In an outbreak setting we really don’t have two to three years to wait for a vaccine, so that’s where we come in at Inovio pharmaceuticals, we use DNA medicine technology,” – SVP of R&D at Inovio Pharmaceuticals, ABC7 Denver
   
• Japanese drugmaker Takeda is trying to develop a drug to treat people infected with the novel coronavirus or at high risk of contracting it. – The Wall Street Journal
   
• “Pharma to the Rescue: Advances in drug research mean a vaccine for the coronavirus could be in human trials by April.” – Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
   
• Gilead Sciences … is working with health authorities in China on two trials for patients who have been infected with Covid-19, the official name of this particular strain of coronavirus. – CNN
   
• Biotech company AbbVie has said that it has seen promising results for treatment using a mixture of two of its HIV medications and Tamiflu, which is made by Swiss pharma giant Roche and Japan's Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. – CNN
   
• Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has entered into a collaboration with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, to support the development of a vaccine candidate for COVID-19. – Yahoo! Finance
   
• CSL … has joined the global effort to combat the virus, lending its technical expertise and Seqirus vaccine to bolster the University of Queensland’s efforts to develop an inoculation for coronavirus (COVID-19) – Sydney Morning Herald
   
• GlaxoSmithKline is collaborating with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to contribute towards the effort of developing a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak, GSK and CEPI said. – U.S. News
   
• Sanofi said its efforts are being supported by the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an office responsible for preparing the nation against public-health threats like pandemics and bioterrorism. – The Wall Street Journal

To learn more about the biopharmaceutical industry’s efforts to combat the coronavirus – and for additional resources – visit BIO.org/coronavirus.