More than 40 life sciences companies are working on drugs to treat virus symptoms or diagnostic tests, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Five updates on the efforts to create a COVID-19 vaccine:
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston is working with Johnson & Johnson to create a vaccine for the new coronavirus, The Boston Globe reported. They said they hope to begin testing the vaccine on humans in the fall.
- Inovio Pharmaceuticals plans to begin testing its vaccine on humans next month and publish the results of the trial this fall, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- Moderna is already recruiting volunteers to test its vaccine in the Seattle area, the Journal reported. However, federal health officials say the vaccine is still at least a year away from coming to the market.
- Emergent BioSolutions said it is working to develop treatments for COVID-19 made from the blood of patients who have recovered from the disease, according to the Journal.
- Eli Lilly is working with AbCellera Biologics, a Vancouver, Canada-based biosciences company, to develop a potential treatment and prevention for COVID-19, the Indianapolis Star reported. The companies are trying to find the antibodies that will disarm the virus that causes COVID-19. They said they hope to start testing therapies on patients in the next four months.
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