More than 160 vaccines are being developed across the world for COVID-19 with so many companies along with research laboratories in the process of clinical trials, possibly aiming to hit the market in a few months.
Around 23 of the vaccine developers are in the clinical trial stage, as per the latest list of the World Health Organization (WHO). These are the general stages of developing a vaccine:
· Exploratory stage
· Pre-clinical stage
· Clinical development (Phase I, II, III, IV)
· Regulatory review and approval
· Manufacturing
· Quality control
Cost of making one
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has so far shown positive results in on-going clinical trials of the vaccine. AstraZeneca has signed multiple manufacturing deals globally which includes two Bill Gates-backed ventures and a $1.2 billion agreement with the U.S. government.
Recently, it also signed a $174 million with Emergent BioSolutions to develop and manufacture the British drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The Canadian government is funneling $2.7 million into vaccine research, while the U.S. government awarded $1.6 billion to Novavax for coronavirus vaccine development. The U.S. government also announced a nearly $2 billion contract with Pfizer and a German biotechnology company for 100 million doses by December.
The cost of making a vaccine is always in billions of dollars. Manufacturing and research and development (R&D) costs are the main broad classification of vaccine costs. The pharma companies come together with governments, multi-national companies, donors, research laboratories for developing one.
Out of the 100s of developers, barely 20% make it to the pre-clinical trial stages. Therefore, big pharma companies with big pockets and risk appetite and various deals/mergers are the ones that come in the race to afford to develop a vaccine.
Growing industry
As per a report by AB Bernstein in February, the vaccine market has grown sixfold over the past two decades, worth more than $35 billion in the current times. ‘For every dollar invested in vaccination in the world’s 94 lowest-income countries, the net return is $44’, Wimal Kapadia, Bernstein’s analyst, said in a note, as reported by CNBC.
Historically, vaccine businesses haven’t witnessed such strong competition, which has helped many companies generate high revenue from their vaccine businesses. But given so many in the race to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, it will be interesting to see how many get a piece of the pie.
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