Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
A Vaccine Is The One True Global Exit Strategy From This Pandemic, But Timeline Is Frustratingly Long
There’s a one-word exit strategy for the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, which is crippling economies around the world: vaccines. Political leaders and captains of industry know preventing Covid-19 infections is the only way to get the global economy back on its feet, said Richard Hatchett, CEO of an organization tailor-made to help spur the critical work of making vaccines. They also know, he said, that vaccine development will not be cheap. (Branswell, 4/7)
For drug companies, there is suddenly only one priority: the coronavirus. More than 140 experimental drug treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus are in development world-wide, most in early stages, including 11 already in clinical trials, according to Informa Pharma Intelligence. Counting drugs approved for other diseases, there are 254 clinical trials testing treatments or vaccines for the virus, many spearheaded by universities and government research agencies, with hundreds more trials planned. Researchers have squeezed timelines that usually total months into weeks or even days. (Walker, Loftus and Hopkins, 4/6)
This month, the world should get the first results from a clinical trial testing the drug remdesivir against Covid-19. They will get a lot of attention. Remdesivir, made by the California biotech Gilead Sciences, is one of the potential Covid-19 therapies that is furthest along in the development process. The results, from studies in China, could signal whether the drug can effectively combat the infection — and under which circumstances. (Joseph, Feuerstein, Garde and Herper, 4/6)
As Covid-19 sweeps the globe, a growing number of efforts are underway to quickly research and develop treatments and vaccines. Yet much of the work is disjointed and widespread access to any medical product is uncertain. One idea, suggested by Costa Rican officials, is for the World Health Organization to create a voluntary pool and collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that could be shared for product development. (Silverman, 4/7)
