WASHINGTON: Drugmakers are racing to find treatments and vaccines for the new coronavirus, but crossing the finish line would mean bucking a long and discouraging history—and it may not pay off.
The pharmaceutical industry says it’s up to the task of getting therapies to market quickly. At a White House meeting with President Donald Trump this week, executives from some of the world’s biggest drug companies said they were making progress. Antiviral medicines could be available in months, they said, with a vaccine by next year.
“Get it done,” Trump said. “We need it.”
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The history isn’t encouraging. Over the past two decades, two other deadly coronaviruses have leapt from animals to humans, an Ebola outbreak killed more than half of those it infected, and a wave of Zika infections harmed babies before they were even born. Pharmaceutical companies spent billions trying to protect the most vulnerable from those pathogens, but were left with little to show for their efforts.
There’s no guarantee coronavirus will be different, but scientists worldwide have been moving fast. Researchers in China quickly provided its genetic sequence, giving other scientists a faster start in the hunt for treatments and vaccines. More than 200 clinical trials in China are testing everything from drugs first developed for HIV and the flu to antibody-containing plasma from recovered patients. There are more than 90,000 people infected and 3,000 dead worldwide from the virus, which broke onto the world stage less than three months ago.
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Alongside the puzzle in the laboratory exists another problem: Translating the effort into treatments that can quell the outbreak and yield a return on the companies’ investments. Stocks of drugmakers and biotechnology companies have racked up big gains on the hope that the industry will see a windfall from treating Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Moderna Inc., maker of the lead vaccine candidate and one of the most notable winners in that rally, has surged 50% in just a few weeks. Gilead Sciences Inc. has seen its market value swell by $17 billion since the outbreak began on hopes its antiviral drug will be a viable treatment.
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