1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day one, twenty 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: eight since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story. 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: Much has been made about the race to develop a 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: vaccine and who will win it, But being first isn't 5 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: the only thing that matters in the rush to inoculate 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: US from COVID nineteen. But first, here's what happened in 7 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: virus News today. All of the US government programs set 8 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: to offset the economic hit from the coronavirus are about 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: to expire. More than two trillion dollars in government spending 10 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: was approved to support hard hit businesses and unemployed people 11 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: earlier this year. Now leaders face an urgent set of 12 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: decision about whether to extend history's biggest rescue effort. The 13 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: Trump administration wants another relief built with a price tag 14 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: of no more than one trillion dollars before lawmakers leave 15 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 1: for summer recess in early August. The Democrat controlled House 16 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: already approved additional measures worth three point five trillion dollars, 17 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: but Republicans, who have a Senate majority, oppose many of them. 18 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: New York City is ready to enter the fourth and 19 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: final phase of reopening Monday. Mayor Bill de Blasio said zoos, 20 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: botanical gardens, and outdoor movie production can resume, but indoor dining, 21 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: museums and malls will remain closed. Hospitalizations in the state 22 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: of New York dropped to a four month low and 23 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: fewer than one percent of residents tested Thursday where positive 24 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: for coronavirus. New York was once the epicenter of the 25 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: U S crisis, and finally, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's edict 26 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: forbidding local governments to mandate mask wearing capped a week 27 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:22,239 Speaker 1: of turmoil in the state. Although still lagging behind Florida, Texas, 28 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: and Arizona, George's COVID nineteen cases are surging. On Thursday, 29 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: Kemp's administration followed his mask voiding order with a lawsuit 30 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: seeking to block Atlanta's requirement. It was another example of 31 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: him hindering local efforts, making him an outlier among southern 32 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: governors who have rolled back reopenings in the face of 33 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: surging infection rates. And now for today's main story, an 34 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: experimental COVID vaccine from Australia joined almost two dozen candidates 35 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: in clinical trials this week. Development Wise, it's months behind 36 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: some of the front runners, but Bloomberg Senior editor Jason 37 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: Gale explains that speed isn't everything when it comes to 38 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: fighting the pandemic YEA, the global effort to vaccinate humanity 39 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: against the coronavirus is a bit like a Formula one race. 40 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: There are all kinds of teams and various models in 41 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: the race against the pandemic, but in this case, the 42 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: winner might necessarily be the fastest. We need vaccines that 43 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: are not only safe and effective at protecting against COVID nineteen, 44 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: we also want ones that provide durable protection, hopefully measured 45 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: in years, not months. We also want munizations that are 46 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: affordable and easy to administer, and can be manufactured on 47 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: a massive scale so that all seven point eight billion 48 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: of US can be protected. Meeting all of these requirements 49 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: is a tough task, and speed is only part of 50 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: the challenge. You probably already know some of the teams 51 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: in the COVID vaccine race, added front to Moderner and 52 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: its partner, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 53 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: Then there's the University of Oxford and Astra's Etiquette, plus 54 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: Merk Glaxo Smith Klein and Johnson and Johnson are there, 55 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: along with Sinovac and can Sino biological speedy contenters from China, 56 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: just to name a few. In fact, as of July thirteenth, 57 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: the World Health Organization counted twenty three candidates and human 58 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: clinical trials plus one seven in earlier preclinical studies. Time 59 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: will tell which team and whose scientific approach will prevail. 60 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: One recent addition to the Clinical Trial League is the 61 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: University of Queensland. Here in Australia, it's known as u Q. 62 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: So the University Ofquensland has a has a rich history. 63 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: It's where over a hundred years old. It has particularly 64 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: rich history in medicine, and I guess everybody would know 65 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: about the cartosail vaccine. This is Professor Paul Young. He's 66 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: the head of the University of Queensland School of Chemistry 67 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: and Molecular Biosciences. Ucue's pioneering research almost thirty years ago 68 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: led to the human papaloma vaccine that's protected millions of 69 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: women against cervical cancer. More recently, UQ scientists have broken 70 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 1: ground on another aspect of vaccine science. They call it 71 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: the molecular clap. The biology is a little complicated in essence, 72 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: some viruses like the coronavirus, change their appearance after they 73 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: latch onto a seller trying to infect it enables these 74 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: pathogens to evade detection by the immune system, and that's 75 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 1: not good. So Paul's team fiking out a way of 76 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: training the immune system to recognize the virus early before 77 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: it's infected cells. It's something they've been working on for 78 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: almost a decade. We applied it to influenza, we applied 79 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: it to a bowler, to mers, another coronavirus similar to 80 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: COVID nineteen, mumps, measles, so a wide range of different 81 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: viruses that we demonstrated that this technology could could work with, 82 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: and we took a number of those through into animal 83 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: protection studies and showed they induced a good immune response 84 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: and and could afford protection to those animals who are 85 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: challenged with live virus. One of the good things about 86 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: the molecular clamp is that it can be tailored to 87 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: work against a number of different diseases, including ones we 88 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 1: don't yet know about. That made it attractive to the 89 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations or SEPPI, which gave Paul 90 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: and his team fifteen million dollars to continue developing the 91 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: Molecular Clamp Platform. SEPPI is a foundation set up in 92 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: two thousand and seventeen with funding from the Bill and 93 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 1: Melinda Gates Foundation, the governments of Norway and India, and 94 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: the Welcome Trust. It works to accelerate the development of 95 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: vaccines against emerging effects as diseases and to make them 96 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: broadly accessible. The objective of the grant was to develop 97 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: three vaccines as demonstrators of our platform. An influenza A, 98 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: respirators in city or virus one so we could compare 99 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: our platform with other approaches, but also an emerging disease, 100 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: which just happened to be MERS. We chose MERS quite 101 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: fortuitously because obviously as a coronavirus, what we learned with 102 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: MERS we were able to apply to to COVID when 103 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: it came on the scene. In fact, even before they 104 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: knew that the coronavirus was going to cause a pandemic, 105 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: they started work on a vaccine against it, in part 106 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: to see if they could. We didn't know how far 107 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: we'd take that process. We just wanted to give out, 108 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: give ourselves a little bit of a stress test ourselves, 109 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,239 Speaker 1: I have to say, like many people back in early January, 110 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: no one anticipated that size Kobe two would spread as 111 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: far as it did, or as far as it has 112 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: and still spreading globally and having the impact that it's had. 113 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: A vaccine candidate was constructed within twenty four hours of 114 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: the virus is genetic sequence being published. Over the next 115 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: three to four weeks, we tested about two hundred and 116 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: fifty different variants of that and within that four week 117 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,679 Speaker 1: period we've chosen our lead candidate. But also within that period, 118 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: in fact, it was only about ten days after we 119 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: got the sequence, SEPPI got in touch with us to 120 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: say that they would like to trigger us as one 121 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: of the groups that they would support in developing a vaccine. 122 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: All the way through. Starting last Monday, about one and 123 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: twenty adult volunteers in Brisbane are participating in an initial 124 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 1: study of the vaccine to check that it's safe and 125 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: induces a sufficiently strong immune response. We're highly confident because 126 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: we've already gone through genicity studies in mice and shown 127 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: that our vaccine induces extremely high levels of neutralizing anybody, 128 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: higher than any I've seen in other corresponding vaccine approaches. 129 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: U Q delayed studying human trials until lab studies demonstrating 130 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: safety and efficacy were completed. In the meantime, it's worked 131 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,959 Speaker 1: with various research groups and Melbourne based pharmaceutical company CSL 132 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: to accelerate manufacturing. In fact, CSL began figuring out how 133 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: to make large amounts of the vaccine material well before 134 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: the experimental shot had entered initial human studies, just because 135 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: we need the program to go as rapidly as possible. 136 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: This is Dr Andrew Cuthbertson. He's an executive director at CSL, 137 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: and until a few weeks ago, he was also the 138 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: company's chief scientist. CSL is one of the world's biggest 139 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: makers of blood based therapies. It's also the parent company 140 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: of Securists, which makes flu vaccines. We believe we could 141 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: make somewhere between fifteen to fifty million doses by the 142 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: end of this calendar year, and we could make something 143 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: like a hundred million doses over the next of months. Now. 144 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: I think we will have those millions of doses available, 145 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: but they won't be available for mass vaccination of the 146 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: community until we've generated the clinical trial data to support 147 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: a license for the vaccine. In technical terms, the candidate 148 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,079 Speaker 1: vaccine contains a recombinant protein stabilized into a trimeric form 149 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,319 Speaker 1: of the spikes on the outside of the sascovy two virus. 150 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: Plus it has securisies M fifty nine adjuvant that makes 151 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: flu shots more effective in the elderly. The chemical is 152 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: designed to stimulate a better immune response to vaccines. Andrew 153 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: says it will bolster production of so called helper T 154 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: cells as well as reduced the amount of vaccine needed 155 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: and eat shot and therefore we can potentially make more doses, 156 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: which may be critical. Never have so many scientists work 157 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: so hard at the same time to produce a vaccine 158 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: against a completely new virus. The stakes are high and 159 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 1: some of the risks. Being fast is definitely an advantage, 160 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:12,959 Speaker 1: but the real winners will be those who produce a 161 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,559 Speaker 1: safe and effective humanization that can save the most lives 162 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:20,559 Speaker 1: from this insidious disease. Lucky for us, we've never had 163 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: so many teams using so many different approaches racing to 164 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: beat a single common enemy. That was Jason Gale in Melbourne. 165 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,599 Speaker 1: And that's it for our show today. For coverage of 166 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: the outbreak from one bureaus around the world, visit bloomberg 167 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: dot com, slash Coronavirus and if you like the show, 168 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: please leave us a review and a rating on Apple 169 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best to help more listeners 170 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced 171 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: by topor Foreheaz, Jordan Gaspourey, Magnus Hendrickson and me Laura Carlson. 172 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: Today's main story was reported by Jason Gale. Original music 173 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesca Levi. 174 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.