Part one of a three-part series.
Many people dislike drug companies and other healthcare companies. Drug companies often charge a lot of money for their products. Sometimes their drugs don’t work. Sometimes they have side effects. Sometimes they are addictive. Even the best drugs won’t keep us alive forever.
But, during the coronavirus pandemic, we are relying on drug companies and other healthcare companies to save our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
While government plays a vital role in managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the private sector that will provide the solutions to identify and fight the disease. Who would you rather depend on – profit-making private companies or bureaucratic government agencies?
CDC Response
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control, a federal agency, was initially tasked with providing tests for COVID-19. Its test kits could not detect the difference between COVID-19 and lab-grade water.
The CDC also limited testing to patients who had recently traveled to China and were symptomatic. Whoops!
The lack of reliable test kits enabled the disease to spread throughout the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined on Feb. 29 that certified labs, including commercial lab testing companies, could develop and distribute COVID-19 test kits.
Private companies and clinics stepped up quickly. Some examples:
- The Cleveland Clinic developed an eight-hour test kit.
- Hackensack Meridian Health developed a rapid response test kit that can provide results within a few hours.
- On March 23, Everlywell became the first company to offer a test kit that consumers can use at home.
- Roche shipped 400,000 test kits to labs across the U.S. beginning March 13, and an additional 400,000 the following week.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific developed a test kit that can detect COVID-19 within four hours.
- On March 28, Abbott Laboratories announced a five-minute test that can be used almost anywhere.
Drug companies in the U.S. and throughout the world are also working to develop a vaccine to fight COVID-19.
Cambridge-based Moderna Inc. has already begun Phase 1 testing of its mRNA-1273 vaccine that is based on the genetic sequence of COVID-19. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of Tarrytown, N.Y., is working on an antibody treatment that uses the virus to build up antibodies that fight COVID-19. Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Plymouth Meeting, Penn., is developing INO-4800, a vaccine similar to Moderna’s that is made from optimized DNA plasmids.
But that’s just a sample. At least 16 U.S. pharmaceutical companies are working on vaccines for COVID-19.
The government did its part by passing a massive spending bill, while the Federal Reserve Board dropped interest rates back to zero, resumed bond buying and provided liquidity to the banking system. None of these actions reassured investors and stopped the stock market from tanking. Recall that during the financial crisis, the Obama Administration invested more than $800 billion in a “stimulus” that stimulated the federal debt, but not the economy.