ICYMI: America’s biopharmaceutical companies are taking on COVID-19

The biopharmaceutical industry is taking on COVID-19, a disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, through research and development (R&D) into prevention and treatment, in-kind financial contributions and collaboration with public partners.

Several PhRMA member companies are advancing discovery efforts for vaccine candidates and collaborating across the industry to share existing technologies that can be leveraged to allow rapid production once a vaccine candidate is identified. Companies are also undertaking inventories of existing research portfolio libraries to identify potential treatments for investigation, some of which are already being used by public health officials. Currently, there are roughly 80 clinical trials underway for experimental new treatments and vaccines that have the potential to be effective against COVID-19.

The following is a collection of recent media coverage spotlighting how many of PhRMA’s member companies are working to combat COVID-19:

• The Wall Street Journal: As Virus Spreads, Drugmakers Are On The Case
• The Wall Street Journal: Drugmaker Takeda Is Working On Coronavirus Drug
• The Wall Street Journal: Regeneron, Sanofi To Test Arthritis Drug As Coronavirus Treatment
• The Washington Post: The Best Hope For Coronavirus Treatment Is An Experimental Drug That Fizzled Against Ebola
• Reuters: Trump Administration Says Drug Makers Will Work Together To Combat Coronavirus
• Bloomberg: Drugmakers Promise Affordable Vaccines, Treatments
• CNN Business: Gilead Sciences Drug Remdesivir May Help Treat Coronavirus Symptoms, According To Who
• S. News & World Report: British Drugmaker GSK To Collaborate With CEPI In Effort To Develop Coronavirus Vaccine
• FierceBiotech: J&J Allies With BARDA To Accelerate Coronavirus Vaccine Program
• Barrons: Pfizer Announced A Plan To Identify A Possible Coronavirus Treatment

The biopharmaceutical industry is committed to developing solutions to address this global pandemic, just as it has in previous public health emergencies. PhRMA member companies not only bring decades of expertise in infectious diseases, including other strains of coronavirus, but bring the infrastructure and technologies to allow us to quickly advance potential vaccine and treatment candidates to clinical trials and have the manufacturing capabilities and expertise to allow for quick scale-up.