With the Food and Drug Administration approving the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use last week, the focus around the vaccine will start to shift toward public health messaging and how to convince tens of millions of people around the country to accept the vaccine and roll up their sleeves for a shot. … READ MORE >
5 things to know this week in life sciences: Week of Dec. 7
This is the first installment of a new weekly roundup in which we highlight five things you need to know about in the life sciences industry. Here’s the latest, including COVID-19 vaccine news, a deal between Palantir and the FDA, and more. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Vaccine doses for the global population
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set to review Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine this week for emergency use authorization and Moderna’s vaccine next week, we have passed the “if” phase of questions around a COVID-19 vaccine and are now in the midst of determining the “when and how” of vaccine distribution. … READ MORE >
Looking ahead: next steps for the economy after Pfizer’s promising vaccine news
Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech’s Monday announcement that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate has shown to be more than 90% effective in preliminary results from an ongoing trial is a much needed win in the fight against the pandemic. While significant challenges remain, we are likely now closer to the end of the pandemic than the beginning. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: The race to find a coronavirus vaccine
Scientists have been working at a blistering pace to shorten the vaccine development cycle from years to months in order to get a COVID-19 vaccine to market. With more than 190 such vaccines in development, there are several leading the pack. Here’s the latest on these efforts, as of Oct. 15. … READ MORE >
The search for a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine
Americans are tired of the pandemic and the economic, health and political fallout we have collectively experienced from it. While there may be disagreement about the best way to approach the pandemic, it is generally held that a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine that can be manufactured and distributed at scale is a critical step toward economic recovery. … READ MORE >
More promise, more problems: Cyberattacks threaten life sciences companies researching COVID-19 vaccine
Picture this scenario: Researchers at a biotech company are working tirelessly on a potential coronavirus vaccine and planning to start a phase three clinical trial soon. This work results in more visibility for the company, and an influx of capital investment. But with that greater visibility and investment comes added … … READ MORE >
No vaccine, no recovery: The long road back
It is becoming quite clear that absent an accessible and widely distributed vaccine, that there will be no complete economic recovery. What originally was thought to be a 15 week problem has quickly evolved into something that looks more like a 15-month challenge. The premature reopening of the U.S. economy has resulted in an intensification of the pandemic, which is now causing growth in the economy to slow. The spread of the disease has resulted in a rollback of normal social and economic activity that poses significant risk to already subdued utilization of the full capacity to produce around the economy. Thus, any discussion of a full reopening and recovery of the domestic economy must be discussed within the context of a viable timetable that includes a vaccine. … READ MORE >
Trump administration identifies 5 companies for government support in vaccine effort
Drug developers, academic institutions and government agencies across the globe are investigating more than 100 potential vaccines for the coronavirus. The Trump administration on Wednesday identified a handful of organizations that it believes are the most likely to produce a viable vaccine candidate, The New York Times reported. This is … … READ MORE >
Coronavirus pandemic highlights importance of life sciences industry
While the coronavirus pandemic has slowed growth in the life sciences sector this year, it has also highlighted the importance of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries as the whole world battles the COVID-19 disease and its impacts. This industry focus could have a lasting impact in shifting consumer and policymaker … … READ MORE >