Texas Border Business
As communities across the country consider whether to reopen schools and offices this fall, leaders are pinning their hopes to a COVID-19 vaccine that will soon be available.
The Chamber’s latest interactive map breaks down where clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics are happening in the United States. There are currently 25 vaccines in the clinical stage of development, and just yesterday two entered the final stages.
Moderna began a Phase 3, 30,000-person trial for its leading vaccine candidate, developed in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A day ahead of the beginning of the trial, the U.S. government threw additional support behind Moderna’s vaccine, committing an additional $472 million to the Phase 3 trial.
Late Monday afternoon, Pfizer and BioNTech announced the start of a global Phase 2/3 30,000-person safety and efficacy clinical trial for their leading mRNA vaccine candidate. If the vaccine candidate proves effective, the companies plan to seek regulatory approval as early as October 2020, with the goal of providing up to 100 million doses globally by the end of the year.
The story of these three innovative companies sheds light on the risk required to invest in innovative, life-saving treatments. To date, there has not yet been a successful mRNA vaccine developed. Should either the Moderna or Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine candidates prove successful, it would be an unprecedented breakthrough.
As these companies work at warp speed alongside other biopharmaceutical companies with vaccines in clinical development, the scientific community recognizes that an effective vaccine cannot come quickly enough.
With our brightest scientific minds, the most innovative companies, and the nation’s leading universities on the task, the Chamber is confident that we will have an effective vaccine to help lead the global community out of this crisis soon.
– Jonathan Weinberger, Executive Vice President, U.S. Chamber Global Innovation Policy Center
