Sanofi, headquartered in Paris, is the only major drugmaker going forward with plans to develop a Zika vaccine, according to Bloomberg. Getting the drug to market could take more than three years, in which time populations in areas hit hardest by Zika could begin to naturally develop resistance to the virus. This would be a losing gamble for Sanofi, which might still be able to market vaccines to small territories where Zika has not yet reached, but could also end up with large stockpiled quantities of the vaccine.
The U.S. government also has a vaccine in the works, which could see trials by mid-2017, Bloomberg reports, but like Sanofi, federal efforts to create a vaccine must contend with a significant lack of information about how the virus will evolve and what its ultimate disease burden will look like.
More articles on Zika:
Boston hospitals report uptick in patients arriving with Zika worries
Infographic: Where in the US have Zika cases been reported? [May 20 update]
Number of pregnant Americans with Zika jumps to 279
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