Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-11-16)

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek November 16, 2020

22

protein,stimulatingtheimmunesystemtomake

antibodiestofightthevirus.Modernasaysitsvac-

cinecanbekeptinregularfreezers;someother

vaccinesdon’tneedtobefrozenatall.

Pfizer’svaccinealsorequirestwoshotstobe

giventhreeweeksapartbeforesignificantprotection

kicksin.Whilemostothervaccinesinlate-stagetest-

ingalsorequiremultipleshots,Johnson& Johnson’s

mayworkafterjustone,whichwouldenable

morepeopletogetprotectionfaster.Resultsofa

60,000-participantJ&Jtrialmaycomebyyearend.

Whichevervaccinesgetemergencyauthoriza-

tions,supplieswillbeverylimitedatfirst.Pfizer

hassaidit expectstohaveasmanyas 50 million

dosesavailablebytheendoftheyear,orenough

for 25 millionpeople,thoughit hopestoproduce

upto1.3billiondosesnextyear.If Pfizergetscru-

cialdata neededforthevaccinetogainemer-

gencyregulatoryclearance,a panelofdoctorsand

public-health experts convened by the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention will make vital

recommendations about who should be inoculated

first. The group, called the Advisory Committee on

Immunization Practices, is expected to make recom-

mendations shortly after a vaccine garners regula-

tory clearance. People at high risk of infection, such

as health-care workers, or of experiencing a severe

case—the elderly and those with chronic conditions—

will likely be first in line. Once these recommenda-

tions are in place, vaccinations can begin.

Who gets which vaccine will also depend in part

ondealsthatgovernmentshavemadewithdrug

companies.TheU.S.agreedinJulytopayPfizer

$1.95billionfor 100 milliondosesofitsvaccine—the

equivalent of $39 for a two-shot immunization, a

price BioNTech has said could become a benchmark

for developed nations—once the shot is cleared, with

an option to buy 500 million more. The European

Union signed a deal to buy 200 million doses, with

an option to buy an additional 100 million. The U.K.

struck its own supply agreement, while Japan and

Canada also have pacts with the two partners.

AstraZeneca and its partner, Oxford, agreed to

deliver 100 million doses of their vaccine to the

U.K., which will be the first country to get access

should the shot succeed, the British government

said in May.

The expense of deploying the Pfizer shot will

likely heighten existing fears that wealthier nations

will get the best vaccines first, despite a World

Health Organization-backed effort called Covax that

aims to equitably deliver vaccines all over the world.

It also presents a choice now faced across the

developing world: to pay for the expensive con-

struction of subzero storage infrastructure for what

seems like a sure bet, or wait for a slower, more con-

ventional vaccine that brews batches of protein or

inactivated viral particles in living cells and can be

delivered through existing health-care networks.

“If there is a protein-based vaccine that could

achieve the same effect as an mRNA vaccine does

and there’s the need to vaccinate billions of

◼Phase 1 ◼◼Phase 2 ◼◼Phase 3 ●●Dataread-out ●● Limitedauthorizationuse

Arcturus,DukeNUS

SinovacBiotech*

CanSinoBiologics*

Sinopharm

Oxford,AstraZeneca

BioNTech,Pfizer,FosunPharma

Moderna

GamaleyaResearchInstitute*

InovioPharmaceuticals

Novavax

CureVac

Clover,Dynavax,GSK

Johnson& Johnson

ImperialCollegeLondon

Sanofi,GlaxoSmithKline

Merck& Co.(Themisacquisition)

3/2020 6/2020 11/2020 12/2020

*CHINA HAS AUTHORIZED THE USE OF CANSINO’S VACCINE IN MILITARY PERSONNEL; SINOVAC’S SHOT WAS CLEARED FOR USE IN DOCTORS, CUSTOMS OFFICIALS, AND OTHER FRONTLINE WORKERS; RUSSIA APPROVED THE GAMALEYA VACCINE FOR USE BEFORE BEGINNING PHASE 3 TRIALS. DATA: BLOOMBERG NEWS

The Vaccine Race