Pharma giants such as Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline have decided to collaborate to develop & manufacture vaccines and treatments for COVID-19

United States:  In an effort to beat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, an association of life sciences companies including pharma giant Novartis and Johnson & Johnson have decided to collaborate to develop and manufacture vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for COVID-19. There are about 15 pharma companies who have agreed to share their proprietary libraries of molecular compounds that already have some degree of safety and activity data.

This is a part of an initiative called “COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator”, which was collaboratively launched by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard. As of now, there are no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 coronavirus. The pharma companies participating in this joint initiative include BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, bioMerieux, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, US-based Merck & Co (MSD), German Merck (Merck KGaA), Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi, among others.

After the announcement of this collaborative R&D initiative, Novartis’ CEO said, “In addition to the individual contributions companies are already making, collective action is critical to ensure any promising studies into vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics are quickly scaled to people around the world who are affected by this pandemic.”

According to TechSci Research, several drug trails are already being done to find the vaccine and treatment for COVID-19 epidemic, but the collaboration of these leading pharma giants aims at bringing the most promising treatment forward quickly without organizational barriers. If their initiative is a hit, it can quickly move into preclinical trials in as early as two months. Pharma giant Novartis is also contributing by making available several compounds from its libraries that are considered suitable for in vitro antiviral testing. Apart from that, Novartis will collaborate with the World Health Organization to determine the best medication distribution to ensure broad access to patients in dire need of the medication.

According to the published report by TechSci Research, “Global Coronavirus Diagnostics Market By Type of Test (Molecular v/s Serology), By User (Single v/s Multiple), By Full Test Time (Less Than 60 Minutes, 1 Hours to 12 Hours, 13 Hours-24Hours, More Than 1 Days), By End User (Hospitals, Public Health Labs, Private or Commercial Labs, Physician Labs, Others), By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”, global coronavirus diagnostics market is expected to grow at a formidable rate during the forecast period. The global coronavirus diagnostics market is driven by increasing prevalence of this disease across different parts of the globe. Additionally, lack of kits or tests available to diagnose the disease is further expected to propel the growth of market during the forecast years. The ongoing pandemic novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused due to SARS-COV-2 and generally spreads from animals to humans and then from humans to humans. The disease usually spreads from saliva droplets of the infected person or the nose discharges of the infected person when they cough or sneeze. First case of the disease was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and since then, it has spread to various parts of the world infecting millions. As of 27 March 2020, the total number of coronavirus cases has reached 533,015 out of which 124,387 have recovered and around 24,095 people have died because of the disease.

According to the recently published report by TechSci Research, “Global Chloroquine Market By Type (Injectables, Capsules, Tablets), By Route of Administration (Oral v/s Intravenous), By Dosage (5mg, 500mg, 1000mg), By Application (Arthrophlogosis, Malaria, COVID-19, Others), By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2030”, global chloroquine market is expected to grow at a formidable rate during the forecast period. Chloroquine is commonly available in the market under the generic brand name Aralen. Several other formulations of chloroquine are also available that are sold under different brand names. Chemically, chloroquine is 7-chloro-4-[[4-(diethylamino)-1-methylbutyl] amino] quinoline phosphate and is used for treatment of various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, malaria, among others. The global chloroquine market is driven by the increasing use of the drug for treating various diseases. Recently, it has been identified though not approved by the FDA that the drug can be helpful in the treatment of novel coronavirus disease. The clinical trials are going on, but nothing has proved out to be fruitful yet.