Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can lead to respiratory illness, including MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people and can evolve into strains not previously identified in humans. On January 7, 2020, a novel coronavirus (now identified as COVID-19) was identified as the cause of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. To date, there are 79,360 confirmed cases worldwide, 2,619 associated deaths, and 24,963 cases that have recovered (Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE, February 23, 2020).
The first confirmed death from COVID-19 occurred on January 9, 2020 prompted the pharma and biotech firms to work on the drugs/vaccine against the virus. Several pharma and biotech firms, government bodies such as U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and not-forprofit organizations like Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and host of others have begun researching the cure; some are preparing for clinical trials, and others are developing novel approaches to vaccine development.
Remarkably, the companies who first announced the development of treatment for Coronavirus were not the Big Pharma companies, (although they did join the bandwagon-albeit a bit late) but firms like Inovio Pharmaceuticals from the USA. CEPI granted $9 million to Inovio to develop a vaccine against the COVID-19. Inovio was the first to advance its vaccine (INO-4700) against MERS-CoV, a related coronavirus, into evaluation in humans. Inovio is currently preparing to initiate a Phase 2 vaccine trial for INO-4700 in the Middle East where most MERS viral outbreaks have occurred.
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