Coronavirus: in search for vaccine, US small firms take a leading role
- As large drug companies leave vaccine development, smaller biotech firms are stepping in
- Regardless of new technology that can speed the process, ‘we are still looking at 12 to 18 months,’ an FDA official says
Months into the new coronavirus pandemic, the race for a solution reflects a new reality: the US government must rely less on large drug manufacturers and look to smaller biotechs to develop a vaccine.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has issued three grants for vaccine development since the pandemic, two going to vaccine giants, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi Pasteur and one to the lesser known Moderna, a biotech firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moderna’s vaccine candidate is the first to enter human trials.
Last week Moderna said it secured government funding of up to US$483 million for its promising vaccine candidate using gene-based development.
“This pandemic could be an opportunity where unconventional but innovative ways of developing vaccines could finally be put on the map as they are filling the void of the traditional vaccine space,” said Kern Briggs, founder of Atlas Global, a strategic business consulting firm for the life sciences industry.
Government funding to lesser known biotech companies is crucial as many large drug companies have abandoned vaccine development, analysts said.
Like the development of drugs generally, the development of vaccines require many months and years, and the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in research. But because vaccines are considered less profitable than other drugs, only four pharmaceutical giants remain in the field: GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson.