Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-07)

Bloomber

65

○Researchersfrom

countriesaroundtheglobe

aredevelopingmorethan

200 experimentalcoronavirus

vaccines,accordingtothe

WorldHealthOrganization,

whichhaveentered

antrials.

scientistsarethevanguardofthe

todevelopa vaccineforSARS-CoV-2.

othasbeendevelopedandapproved

thanfouryears,sowhatthey,fellow

ists,andthedrugcompaniesthey’re

g withhaveaccomplishedis signifi-

entifyingthevirus’sgeneticsequence,

designingnewtechnologies,andstarting

late-stageclinicaltrialswithtensofthou-

sandsofhealthyparticipants.

PfizerInc.andpartnerBioNTech—and,

separately,ModernaInc.—werethefirstto

seetheircandidatesshowsignsofsuccess

aftertheypreventedmorethan90%ofsymp-

tomaticinfectionsin trials.AstraZenecaPlc

andtheUniversityofOxfordfollowed,dis-

playinglowerlevelsofefficacyin aninterim

analysis.Withinweeksotherfront-runnerswill

alsoreportonwhethertheirversionsaresafe

andeffective,openinga doortoemergency

authorizationsfromregulators.ThePfizer-

BioNTechshotwasauthorizedin theU.K.on

Dec.2.Asmoregeta greenlight,theworld

couldsoonhavea waytoprotectagainsta

virusthat’staken267,000livesin theU.S.and

1.5millionglobally—anda glimmerofhopefor

a returntonormalcy.—RileyGriffin

THE VACCINE

CHASERS

○Heraisedmorethan$21.5million

in sevenweekstoassistunemployed

restaurantworkers.

OnMarch27,asbusinessesacrosstheU.S.were

startingtofeelthedevastatingeffectsofpandemic-

relatedclosures,FieristartedtheRestaurantEmployee

ReliefFund.Thevastmajorityofthemoneyheraised

cameafterpersonalpleastothelikesofMoët

HennessyUSA,PepsiCo,andUberEats,whosespon-

sorshiphascollectivelyhelpedroughly43,000people

receive$500grants.

ThehostofDiners,Drive-Ins,andDiveshasalso

produceda documentary,RestaurantHustle 2020 ,

spotlightingthechallengestheindustrycontinuesto

face.It airsontheFoodNetworkin December,which

is alsowhentheself-appointedmayorofFlavortown

openshisdelivery-onlychain,GuyFieri’sFlavortown

Kitchen,in almost 200 locations,includingLosAngeles

andMinneapolis.DishesincludetheRealCheezy

burger,whichcomeswithFieri’ssignaturedonkey

sauce.—KateKrader

GUY

FIERI

CELEBRITY CHEF

DANBAROUCH

Director,Center

forVirology&

VaccineResearch,

BethIsrael

Deaconess

MedicalCenter,

Boston

CHENWEI

Majorgeneral,

People’sLiberation

Army,and

researcher,

AcademyofMilitary

MedicalSciences,

Beijing

KIZZMEKIA

CORBETT

Researchfellowand

teamlead

forcoronavirus

research,

VaccineResearch

Center,National

InstituteofAllergy

andInfectious

Diseases,

Bethesda,Md.

SARAHGILBERT

Professorof

vaccinology,Jenner

Instituteatthe

NuffieldDepartment

ofMedicine,

UniversityofOxford

UGURSAHIN

CEO,BioNTechSE,

Mainz,Germany

FIERI: FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES. RAVEENDRAN: PAUL YEUNG/BLOOMBERG. VACCINE CHASERS: COURTESY BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER, FELIX SCHMITT/CONTACT PRESS IMAGES, JOHN CAIRNS, XIE HUANCHI/ZUMA PRESS, TIMOTHY NWACHUKWU/REDUX

BENGALURU, INDIA ○ Byju’s,

his online education app, had

73 million users in October,

up from more than 40 million

in January.

Coronavirus lockdowns sent India’s

economy into its first contraction in decades,

but for a few entrepreneurs the crisis has

also meant opportunity: Revenue for Byju’s

is expected to double, to more than $1 bil-

lion, in the fiscal year ending next March.

The app’s lessons include everything

from drawing for kindergartners to quantum

physics for high school seniors. Raveendran

introduced it in 2015 to connect teachers in

India with students just as affordable smart-

phones and cheap wireless data gave many

of the country’s 250 million school-age chil-

dren access to technology.

The son of schoolteachers, Raveendran

got his start as a star tutor who jetted

around India, teaching high school math at

sports stadiums and doing exam prep for

prospective engineers and businesspeople

in large auditoriums. The Chan Zuckerberg

Initiative, Bond Capital Associates LLC

(co-founded by Mary Meeker), and

BlackRock Inc. are backing his vision, driv-

ing Byju’s valuation from $8 billion in January

to $12 billion in October. —Saritha Rai

BYJU RAVEENDRAN

FOUNDER AND CEO,

THINK & LEARN PVT LTD.

BAROUCH

CHEN

CORBETT

SAHIN

GILBERT