FORTUNE TO MAKE

Vigorous research is underway to fight COVID-19 and pharma companies are ready to make a killing

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

WHILE MOST people are adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies making drugs, vaccines and diagnostics will certainly end up making money from it. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 67 vaccines were in preclinical stage and three vaccines were in phase 1 clinical trials as of April 11. Similarly, an assessment by Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, a global non-profit that drives research on diagnostics, says that 36 molecular assays that use viral genes for diagnosis and 38 immunoassays which used antibodies for diagnosis are being developed. Data from Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program run by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to support new therapies also shows that 10 drugs are in active trials and another 15 are in planning stages.

Profit is at the centre of all these endeavours. The Wall Street is already monitoring biotech companies involved in making these products. According to Nasdaq, a global electronic marketplace for buying and trading securities, the company to invest in is Dynavax Technologies Corporation, a California-based firm that makes adjuvants-chemicals which can make the vaccine more effective. This company has secured funding from Oslo-based nonprofit Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which has invested up to $29.2 million in the search for a COVID-19 vaccine. The organisation hopes to fund at least three vaccine candidates and estimates it would need an investment of US$2 billion to do so.