Drugmakers back vaccine development to contain outbreak emergencies
London — Spurred by the Ebola and Zika epidemics, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are among drugmakers backing an effort to develop new vaccines that could be deployed swiftly to contain outbreaks before they spark global emergencies. Pharmaceutical companies are working with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which has raised $460m from the governments of Germany, Japan and Norway, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, the group said on Wednesday. Glaxo, the UK’s biggest drugmaker, is willing to commit scientists and technology to a proposed biopreparedness facility focused on vaccines that is estimated to cost $40m-$50m a year, CEO Andrew Witty said in a telephone interview. New vaccines must advance to at least the second of three stages of clinical tests to provide a type of "insurance policy" against epidemics, Witty said. "When you look at the different pandemic threats over the last 10 or 12 years, the global ...
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