The White House announced on Wednesday that it had selected five companies to be the most likely candidates to be able to produce a coronavirus vaccine. This is a critical step the Trump administration is taking to carry out Operation Warp Speed, which is the government's plan to accelerate the vaccine testing process to be able to develop an effective vaccine by the end of the year.
The five companies that the Trump administration sees as most promising are AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), in partnership with Oxford University, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). AstraZeneca/Oxford, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna have already received $2.2 billion federal funding.
The narrowing of the field has left out some companies that have already received funding from the United States like the project from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY), adding pressure to the dozens of potential vaccines that may miss out on additional research funding.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration is betting that is can identify the most promising vaccine at an early stage in order to be able to fast track the testing process to move quickly on manufacturing and distribution. An announcement of the final candidate will be made within the next few weeks.
Despite the pace of the vaccine research, Dr. Antony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated in an interview with JAMA Editor Dr. Howard Bauchner that there is a chance a vaccine will not provide long-term immunity, meaning yearly vaccines may need to be developed.
"When you look at the history of coronaviruses, the common coronaviruses that cause the common cold, the reports in the literature are that the durability of immunity that's protective ranges from three to six months at almost always less than a year. That's not a a lot of durability and protection," Fauci stated.
Total Global Cases: Over 6.55 Million
Total Deaths: Over 386,000
Total Recovered: Over 3.1 Million
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The World Health Organization on Wednesday stated that the agency will continue its clinical trial looking into the potential effectiveness the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has against COVID-19. The agency had recently halted its trial of the drug due to safety concerns expressed in a study published in The Lancet in May. The W.H.O.'s Data Safety Monitoring Board concluded that there was no reason to discontinue the international study of the drug after reviewing all available data. W.H.O. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated during the agency's press conference on Wednesday that the safety board will continue to closely monitor all therapeutics being tested.
"W.H.O. is committed to accelerating the development of effective therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics as part of our commitment to serving the world with science, solutions and solidarity," Tedros added.
Meanwhile, results published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that hydroxychloroquine does not prevent infection of the coronavirus. The study looked at over 800 participates that were exposed to the virus, giving one group the anti-malaria drug and another a placebo. The results concluded that about 12% given hydroxychloroquine still developed a COVID-19 infection, compared to 14% who did not receive the drug. The study was the first randomized, placebo-controlled completed study of the potential treatment.
"We were disappointed. We would have liked for this to work," Dr. David Boulware, the study's leader and an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota, stated according to The Associated Press. "But our objective was to answer the question and to conduct a highly-quality study."