Regeneron (REGN) and Roche (RHHBY) announced on Wednesday a joint venture to increase the production of the therapy, as well as fund clinical trials, as the coronavirus pandemic has led to more collaboration between previous competitors.
In a statement Wednesday, Regeneron – who has been testing an antibody cocktail therapy – said in a statement on Wednesday that the collaboration provides’ significant scale and global expertise to bring REGN-COV2 to many more patients in the United States and around the world. , ”According to CEO Leonard Schleifer.
The two companies have been rivals in the vision loss and space of rheumatoid arthritis, but unusual demand in the global pharmaceutical market amplified by the COVID-19 crisis has created early bedfellows. Pharmaceutical collaborations for certain diseases have been a typical strategy, but the market for them is a fraction of the nearly 8 billion world population.
Roche has been one of the leaders in diagnosing COVID-19 with its high-volume testing machines. Roche previously tested a drug, Actemra, to treat COVID-19 – but ended clinical trials when the drug did not meet its primary endpoint in July.
The ever-increasing search for effective treatments for coronavirus and a vaccine comes as the pandemic continues with its strengthening of the world economy. The case count worldwide has exceeded 22 million, with more than 781,000 dead. The US – a global epicenter of the outbreak – is responsible for nearly 5.5 million cases and 171,000 deaths.
In the U.S., however, the rise of the virus has faded in the hard-hit Sun Belt states, even as worries spread over a second wave in the fall amid an increasingly difficult path to reclaim schools and universities. Meanwhile, New York City, a former hotspot COVID-19, reported on Wednesday that its infection rate has tumbled to its lowest level since the crisis began – a milestone in the city’s fierce fighting back to normal.
Falls in the south are starting to decrease. (Graph: David Foster / Yahoo Finance)
WHO waits for COVID response
Underfunding public health has played a major role in the poor response for many countries, as well as mixed community participation in needs such as quarantine and social distance, according to the World Health Organization.
In a live session Wednesday, WHO Health Emergencies Program Executive Director Michael Ryan said contact tracing is a key pillar in controlling the virus and will be a key tool in the next six months – as schools reopen and society trying to get back to normal.
Contact tracing, to isolate cases and people to quarantine, can break the chain of transmission.
“If we did that tomorrow, we would drive infection prices down,” Ryan said, adding that the weaknesses in public health systems worldwide have been the biggest obstacle.
These systems “are not good enough, are not being invested enough” and are being ignored by governments, which are stimulating the growth of the pandemic worldwide, he said.
That, combined with a less than perfect case of local community participation, is a “dangerous mix that could cause the virus to re-emerge.”
@AnjKhem“data-reactid =” 44 “>Anjalee Khemlani is in reporter by Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @AnjKhem
More from Anjalee:
Twitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,SmartNews,LinkedIn,YouTube.“data-reactid =” 51 “>Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube.
