Novartis and others in ‘unprecedented’ COVID-19 partnership
A consortium of life sciences companies including Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb and GSK have united to accelerate the development, manufacture and delivery of vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments for COVID-19.
In response to the pandemic, 15 companies have agreed to share their proprietary libraries of molecular compounds with the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator.
The accelerator was launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, research-charity Wellcome Trust, and Mastercard two weeks ago to quickly screen new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19 in the immediate term. Successful hits would move rapidly into in vivo trials in as little as two months.
Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis and co-chair of the consortium, 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.”
Mark Suzman, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, added that the private sector is where the technical skills from discovery to clinical trials to commercialization know-how sits.
“We look to harness that knowledge and experience, combine it where possible, to connect with national regulators and the World Health Organization to see if we can help flatten the curve of this pandemic and make sure the results reach everyone around the world, particularly those at highest risk and the poorest,” he added.
The initiative is proving popular. Earlier today, March 27, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic arm—Chan Zuckerberg Initiative— committed $25 million to the accelerator.
Many of the life sciences companies are also pursuing other partnerships to fight the pandemic, including with governments.
Suzman concluded: “While each of the partners will also be pursuing other efforts in partnership with national governments and other partners, it is a great example of why we are optimistic that this unprecedented collaboration will provide a platform for a fundamentally different kind of partnership to help address this global health emergency.”
In mid-February, LSIPR reported that Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Janssen and Sanofi’s vaccine unit had united with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a vaccine. Regeneron has also expanded its collaboration with HHS, focused on developing antibody treatments for COVID-19.
Other companies are partnering with each other to advance their treatments.
British drugmaker GSK and Chinese biotech Clover Biopharmaceuticals partnered to develop a protein-based coronavirus vaccine candidate, while immunology-focused Vir Biotechnology and Hong Kong-based WuXi Biologics turned their focus to the development and manufacture of human monoclonal antibodies.
Companies participating in the collaboration include: BD, bioMérieux, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada), Merck KGaA, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi.
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