1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: It's a cloudy, freezing Friday night in January. In Minds, 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: a university town in central Germany, or Shine, a doctor 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: and cancer researcher, bikes home from his lab in the dark. 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: He makes a cup of tea and settles in to 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: read the week's medical journals and starts with leading papers. 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: Has spent more than twenty years of his life trying 7 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: to figure out how to use the body's immune system 8 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: to target and destroy tumors. But tonight, a different disease 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: catches his interest. An ominous new virus is spreading in China. 10 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: Medical journal The Lancet has just published the first case 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: descriptions for forty one people who'd gotten sick in the 12 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: city of Juhan. Uger notices one thing right away. A 13 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: new message in this paper was that one of the 14 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: family members had the disease was VIBUS positive, but did 15 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: not have fever or other symptoms. This was new. The 16 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: asymptomatic cases meant the virus could spread in secret. The 17 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: symptoms described in the article are serious pneumonia, heart injury, 18 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: six deaths. Uer looks up the population of Juhan, eleven 19 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: million people, bigger than central London. Then he checks flights 20 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: between the city and the rest of the world. There 21 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: are dozens of flights every day. It was extremely highly 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: likely that this is going to be a pandemic, and 23 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: we started to discuss what we can do. The next morning, 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: he turns to the person he trusts the most, his 25 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: wife and fellow researcher with them too, Ritchy. She's the 26 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: one who challenges his big ideas, forces him to hone 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: his hypotheses. He spends about an hour showing her what 28 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: hend on. They both know the best weapon to fight 29 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: what's coming will be a vaccine. They've been testing a 30 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: new technology using messenger RNA and experimental cancer therapy, and 31 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: had done a lot of lab work on a potential 32 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: flu vaccine, but neither they nor anybody else had ever 33 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: used the technology in an approved medicine for humans. After that, 34 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: it was not about discussing. It was about asking the question, 35 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: how can we make this happen? If we really want 36 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: to contribute and try to engineer a vaccine, how quick 37 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: this work. They had never even done a patient trial 38 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: in infectious diseases before, just lab experiments. Nobody knew whether 39 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: it would work, but they were about to embark on 40 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: an unprecedented race to find a vaccine against COVID nineteen. 41 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: We decided to start a program because it was clear 42 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: it was an obligation to do something. Welcome to the 43 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: seventh episode of our series. In our last episode, we 44 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: heard about how researchers Catalan Kariko and Drew Wiseman worked 45 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: for decades and relative anonymity to lay the groundwork for 46 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: getting m RNA into cells. With the pandemic, their work 47 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:25,959 Speaker 1: has a chance to make its way to patients far 48 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: faster than what would have previously seemed possible. This time 49 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: we're looking at the remarkable race to speed up development 50 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: time of a COVID nineteen vaccine in the usual decade 51 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: or so to a head spinning ten tranzied months. This 52 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: is a story about the biggest scientific breakthrough with the 53 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: pandemic mRNA vaccines. Now Suddenly, vaccines are the world's number 54 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: one priority and the race to make them is on. Soon, 55 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: hospitals and morgues will be filling up. Hundreds of thousands 56 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: of people are about to die in cities around the globe. 57 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: Every hour of every day is crucial as scientists race 58 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: to do years of work and months. Whoever gets the 59 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: finish line first, will make a name for themselves as 60 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: science heroes, victors in a once in a century war 61 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: with the killer virus. So many lives on the line, 62 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: and for the drug companies billions of dollars in profits too. 63 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: My name is Naomi Kraski and I'm a health reporter 64 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: for Bloomberg News from the Prognosis podcast. This is Breakthrough, 65 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: the story of the COVID vaccine race starts with a 66 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: pair of young biotech companies. One is BioNTech, led by 67 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: Or Shah and it slam too duchy when we just met. 68 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,679 Speaker 1: The other is Moderna, founded by Derrick Rossi, the stem 69 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: cell researcher we met in our last episode, and led 70 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: by a charismatic Frenchman. Needs to fund cell. Unlike BioNTech, 71 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: which had mostly been a cancer company prior to the pandemic, 72 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: Moderna was able to build on a lot of prior 73 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: work and infectious disease. Here's to fund the CEO. We've 74 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: been working on the mountain for ten years. We have 75 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: been working on infectious disease of vaccine for most of 76 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: those teneos. Moderna had started patient trials on nine other 77 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: potential vaccines against other infectious diseases before this pandemic vaccine, 78 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:48,559 Speaker 1: so this was not new to us. We've been working 79 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,040 Speaker 1: on it a lot. In Moderna had started working with 80 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,239 Speaker 1: the US government to design vaccines. The project included mers 81 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: A coronavirus that it hits out of Arabia and other countries, 82 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: and the follows to fund. Briefed officials from the National 83 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease known as NAIAD on 84 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: a factory the company had built in Massachusetts. It could 85 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: produce new vaccines in just sixty days. Steffun invited the 86 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: government officials to tour the facility. Sensing some skepticism, he 87 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: offered to do a test run for a hypothetical pandemic. 88 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: The agency would send Moderna the genetic sequence for an 89 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: emerging viral disease. Moderna would see how fast it could 90 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: get a vaccine ready. The agency was about to pick 91 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: a virus to use when along came stars Covey two. 92 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: It was a perfect test case. So we were made 93 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: aware of the virus between Christmas and New Year of 94 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: We got the sequence from the Chinese government in our 95 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: January the tenth put online. By the fifteen of anyway, 96 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: we had the vaccine design lockdown on the computer, because 97 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: all in Silico we never touched a physical virus. Here, 98 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: it's helpful to step back for a minute and review 99 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: what distinguishes mRNA vaccines from conventional shots. In the old 100 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,559 Speaker 1: way of doing things, vaccines introduced dead or weakened bits 101 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: of virus into the body primarily immune system to recognize 102 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: and destroy the real thing. Messenger RNA vaccines work differently. 103 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: They contain a template that cells will use to make 104 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: the bits of viral protein themselves, essentially turning the body's 105 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: own cells into vaccine making factories. The differences also extend 106 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: to manufacturing. Conventional vaccines are grown inside live cells. Some 107 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: even use chicken eggs. Messenger RNA vaccines don't need any 108 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: of that. Making them is a chemical process, a little 109 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: bit like cooking. Makes the ingredients together and you get 110 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: the vaccine. That may sound simple, but it isn't. Stefan 111 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: told us that going from the theory to actual drugmaker 112 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: seemed like a long shot when he quit his previous 113 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: job joined Moderna. But if he's going to work, you 114 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: would change medicine forever. Great pandemic. Bion tech had been 115 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: mostly focusing on cancer one thing it's scientists were able 116 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: to do in those early days was pull off the 117 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: method for developing rapid personalized versions of m RNA vaccines 118 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: based on cancer patients individual tumors. So we had the 119 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: technology that we could use a vaccine platform to come 120 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: up as a new vaccine was in a few weeks. 121 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,239 Speaker 1: This is another really important point about mr anda of vaccines. 122 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: The technology itself took decades to refine, but within that framework, 123 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: designing a vaccine to target a particular pathogen is actually 124 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: really quick. Before mr and A vaccines came along, the 125 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: fastest vaccine project ever was the n and Drug Company 126 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: American co licensed to Shop for Moms. That took four years. 127 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: The scientists who led the project, Maurice Hillman, swabbed his 128 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: six five year old daughter's throat in order to get 129 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: the lab specimen he needed to make the shot. With 130 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: m r and A vaccines, you don't have to do 131 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: anything like that. You don't need swab samples. All you 132 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: need is the genetic code of the virus cattle and 133 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: carry co. The pioneering researcher who left academia to work 134 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,079 Speaker 1: at BioNTech, says this and the event of the Internet 135 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: gives researchers a leg up. You know you you are 136 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: very young, so you don't remember, but how long it 137 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: took like for HIV to set up the test to 138 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: recognize this infected recognizing the I mean it took so 139 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: long because the technology was not advanced in minds. We 140 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: were an earths them get a slightly later start than 141 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 1: their US rival. They have their kitchen table conversation about 142 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: committing to a COVID vaccine a few weeks after MODERNA 143 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: is already working on the vaccine design, but they start 144 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: moving quickly. To the day after their decision to start 145 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: work on a vaccine, we were calls a series of 146 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: meetings with his manufacturing team, pre clinical testing team, and 147 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: business development team. The crowd into his office in Mines. 148 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: It's a simple room with the desk, conference table, some 149 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: family pictures tacked onto a bulletin board. It's on the 150 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: same hallway as the labs. He asks everyone to start 151 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: planning how they can divert resources away from their other 152 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:55,839 Speaker 1: projects to a new full court press COVID vaccine push. 153 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: On this Monday, I had five or six meetings with 154 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: different and we had to day thereafter a board meeting 155 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: to discuss how this can be supported by other board members. 156 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: The same day, the first COVID case is confirmed in Germany. 157 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: It's a thirty three year old man living near Munich. 158 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: He works at an auto parts company. We had just 159 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: been in a meeting led by a colleague who was 160 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: visiting from China. We were assigned twenty five people to 161 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: work on a potential vaccine, setting up shifts that run 162 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: through evenings and weekends. It's basically seven operation. We had 163 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: to reduce the timelines. We tried to figure out how 164 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: to do that, and in principle we came up as 165 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:50,079 Speaker 1: a number of really innovative strategies. One was doing things 166 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: in parallel instead of doing it sequentially. It's a risky 167 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: of a time saving decision. Usually companies don't prepare for 168 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: a pay Asian trial until they have a potential drug 169 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: to test. But Uger's teams start working on getting trials 170 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: ready to go already. They figure they can add the 171 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: details about the vaccine that's going to be used once 172 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: they have it, they start making multiple candidates. You need 173 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: to do a lot of detailed paperwork before you can 174 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: test any kind of drug on people. So Uger also 175 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: gets in touch with German clinical trial authorities. He knows 176 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: them well because of bion texts work with cancer vaccines. 177 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: He asked them for a meeting. Usually it takes three 178 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: months to get a meeting date. So I called them 179 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: and asked if we could come up just just data 180 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:46,439 Speaker 1: day and and they said, first of all, prepare a 181 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: briefing book and if you've managed that, you can come 182 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: next week. So Uger's team works night and day to 183 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: write an ad page document describing there would be COVID 184 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: vaccine project. They agreed to our plan. The only only 185 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: challenge for us. They wanted to see a toxicology try. 186 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: It usually takes six months, and we wanted to start 187 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: in April. Yeah, so will be the beginning fable Abby 188 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: and they they quested to have a talk study and 189 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: they had to figure out how to do the talk 190 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: in in less than less than three months. And the 191 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: teams you get that out. Moderna is also doing things 192 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: in parallel, setting up the next steps for bigger trials 193 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: before the early ones are done. By February forty two 194 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: days after it started, the company ships the first batch 195 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: of vaccine to NAIAD. Remember that's the National Institute of 196 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: allergy and infectious disease. Like BioNTech, they are relying on 197 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: close partnership with regulators. Unlike BioNTech, they have a direct 198 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: government partnership. The National Institutes of Health is the co 199 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: developer of the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration is 200 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: taking their calls at all hours of the night into 201 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: the weekend. Stefan says, I think one of the hero 202 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:18,199 Speaker 1: of this remarkable SENSEFIC achievement of twenty is vf D 203 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: because you know, usually through the process is set up 204 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: by the agency. You know it would sometimes take months 205 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: to get an answer to a question. Well, here we 206 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: had answers on questions seven with the NIH to help them. Well, 207 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: Darrena moves forward without a big farm a partner for 208 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 1: BioNTech in Germany, that's not the case we're in Aslam. No, 209 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: they can't run the huge clinical trials needed for approval 210 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: on their own. Neither do they have the kind of 211 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: global distribution you need the ship of vaccine all around 212 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 1: the world to succeed. They need a sponsor with deep 213 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: pockets who picks up the phone and calls his contact advisor. 214 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: The drugs behemoth based in New York. The companies had 215 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: already made a deal in to work together on an 216 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: m R and a flu vaccine. Phil Dormantzer, chief scientific 217 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: officer for Viral Vaccines Advisor, remembers that call who are 218 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: wanted to transfer people who are working on flu to 219 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: the new virus really just swapping out the influenza and 220 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: engine coding sequences and swapping in the stars COVID to 221 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: ANDREW coding sequences, because we like to be really out 222 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: in front of this new disease that's broken out in Wuhan, China. 223 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: Remember when I said vaccine makers no longer needed live 224 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: cells or swabbed samples to build vaccines, but that all 225 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: you need is the genetic code of the virus. That's 226 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: what Phil is talking about here, and this is a 227 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: big deal. Ion Tech might not have had ongoing human 228 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: trials with infectious disease vaccines, but they were already working 229 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: in the area. Paddlan explains how far along the flu 230 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: work already was. We were advancing those studies. Animals studies, 231 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: monkey studies were finished, and we were just there to 232 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: request the authorities work for the permission all of the sudden. 233 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: Instead of influence, so we switched over to to Corona. 234 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: By March two, they have twenty vaccine candidates that could 235 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: spur a strong immune response against the virus, and lab 236 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: animals and cell culture experiments. That day, Uber calls Katrin Jansen, 237 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: visors had a vaccine research and development and Phil spots 238 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: it doesn't take long to convince her. I remember there 239 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: was a call on which Uger and Katherine Jansen, who 240 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 1: who leads vaccine research and development advisor UM and I 241 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: spoke about this and they said, well the work plan. 242 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: So I'll literally get him overnight typed up a work plan. 243 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: What are the things that we would do. The plan 244 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: goes to Albert Berla, visor CEO. Albert basically said we 245 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: are going all in on this, that this is clearly 246 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: an emergency. Albert said, in this circumstance, we need to 247 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: divert resources and do whatever is needed to bring the 248 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: vaccine forward. So his expectations of timelines were far faster 249 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: than anything that that that we would have imagine before. Meanwhile, 250 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: the FDA signs off on Moderna's plans for a trial 251 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: in humans. Stefan's team injects its first volunteers on March sixteen. 252 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,679 Speaker 1: About a month later, on April Bion second Fiser start 253 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: their human trial in Germany. Less than two weeks after that, 254 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: a US trial begins. I think we were the only 255 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: company which really started was all ever having ever tested 256 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: their their platform in infectas disease. And we've also the 257 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: only company which tested multiple candidates in pavalum Ugar is 258 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: talking about shoehorning in one more science experiment, he wants 259 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: to test four different potential vaccines in the first human 260 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: study to see which one is the best. It's risky 261 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: because it could delay development. Well, Darren has already picked 262 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: the full spike for its vaccine, but UGO wants to 263 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: try to optimize their shot as much as possible before 264 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: they give it to thousands of people. The question is 265 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: whether to make a vaccine based on only a piece 266 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: of the virus is spike or the whole thing. Picking 267 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: the right bit of the protein for the vaccine could 268 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: potentially make a big difference in how well it works. 269 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: And you could find in the literature arguments for both 270 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: and against both. And so we said, let's test both 271 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: and get the clinical data, get the preclinical data, and 272 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: then get the answers. In July, both Moderna and the 273 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: Fiser BioNTech team announced early data showing their vaccines can 274 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: produce antibodies in people. Biontechs first data is for the 275 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: version of the vaccine that made only one part of 276 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: the spike protein, something called the RBD domain. It's good data. 277 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: The clock is ticking. Some people want to move forward 278 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: with that version of the shot right away. We had 279 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: a lot of pressure from the clinical teams just to 280 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,159 Speaker 1: go ahead domain it teams to insist on waiting for 281 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: the data from the full spike to see whether it 282 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: might wind up making a safer or more effective vaccine. 283 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: They have to move fast. While the pandemic has ebbed 284 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: in some places like Germany, the US is in the 285 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: middle of a summer surge about to hit a hundred 286 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: and fifty COVID deaths. Experts warned that another wave will 287 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,959 Speaker 1: probably come in the fall. They rush blood samples from 288 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: volunteers to labs in Germany and the US. The safety 289 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: data shows that the full spike vaccine is even better 290 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: than the partial spike. It might cause fewer side effects, 291 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: gives a better immune response to so on July they 292 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: decide to go with that one. Remarkably, three days later, 293 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: on July, both Moderna and Fizer BioNTech start the huge 294 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: clinical trials necessary to win regulatory approval. There are tens 295 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: of thousands of volunteers. Their real life experience will show 296 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: whether the vaccines can work outside the confines of a lab, 297 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: whether they can make a dent against the virus in 298 00:20:45,640 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: real life. That summer, Moderna also get one billion dollars 299 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: in funding from Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration's effort 300 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: to hurry along vaccine development. The money is allocated via BARDA, 301 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,159 Speaker 1: the Biochemical Advanced Research and Development Authority. I think this 302 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: is one story that is not talked about enough, is 303 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: what Balda and then Operation vout Speed did by you know, 304 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: sponsoring six companies, giving us the financial resources to take 305 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,640 Speaker 1: a lot of business risk. Eiser doesn't take US government funding, 306 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: although the partners signed a one nine billion dollar contract 307 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: to sell one hundred million doses to the US government 308 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: if the show works, that's its own form of security. 309 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: Moderna has its own deal for one hundred million doses 310 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: for about one point five billion, and BioNTech takes German 311 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: government funds. They need the money to build a factory. 312 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: They've never had to new factor for millions of people before. 313 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,960 Speaker 1: They searched Germany and find an old novartist vaccine factory 314 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: in Marburg, close to Frankfurt. They close on the site 315 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 1: in the fall and work on retrofitting it for m 316 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 1: R and A manufacturing. But there's a problem with making 317 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: a key part of vaccine. Or and Katherine Jansen talked 318 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: about this earlier this year at a conference hosted by 319 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: healthy website stat Yes that that was indeed the low points, 320 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: so we had an effect the vaccine. We wanted to 321 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: to produce one hundred million doses and then it turned 322 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: out that's one off the components did not work as 323 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: as expected. The problem was with lipid nanoparticles. These are 324 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:50,040 Speaker 1: tiny bubbles of that that worked like a protective coating 325 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: for the vaccine. They keep the body's enzymes from destroying 326 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: it before it can make its way to a cell. 327 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: The lipid issue that we faced at one time, that's 328 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: through a real monkey wench, and it's so not only 329 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: did we have to keep the program on track, we 330 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,159 Speaker 1: had to have a significant number of our colleagues, you know, 331 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: working through it and trying to understand it. It originally 332 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: said that if the vaccine worked, it could make a 333 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: hundred million doses. Because of the manufacturing issues, they had 334 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,679 Speaker 1: to scale that back to fifty million doses. Well, we 335 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,959 Speaker 1: faced enormous challenges like in in every in every development 336 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: program and vaccine development program, you have enormous challenges and 337 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: the difference why we usually those challenges of COVID ten years, Yeah, 338 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: the same challenges a nine months. By this point, they're 339 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: working NonStop to solve the manufacturing problems. But the biggest 340 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 1: question is still open, just how well does the vaccine work. 341 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,159 Speaker 1: The answer will come in the huge study that Fiser 342 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: is running. They've expanded. It's more than forty patient people 343 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: all around the world who have volunteered to get two 344 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: shots in the arm without knowing whether what's in the 345 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: syringe is a vaccine or just a placebo. Then they'll 346 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: go out and live their lives and see whether they 347 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: catch COVID. If they get symptoms, the test will show 348 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 1: whether it's the virus. The researchers themselves also don't know 349 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: who got the vaccine and who didn't. It's just a 350 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: matter of time waiting to see how many people get sick. 351 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: And all around the COVID pandemic is getting worse. The 352 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:38,199 Speaker 1: second wave is happening Europe heads back into lockdown. In 353 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: the US, the death toll hits two thousand people in September. 354 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:48,160 Speaker 1: In only two months, another fifty people die. How we're 355 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: not in a good place for a couple of reasons. 356 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: Cases surging in nearly every state, more than two new 357 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,360 Speaker 1: cases in just twenty four hours in this country, alas 358 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,880 Speaker 1: as a cruel much of Europe, the virus is spreading 359 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: even faster than the reasonable worst case scenario of our 360 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 1: scientific advisors. It's Sunday in November eight, almost ten months 361 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: after the Sunday morning when it's them and UGO had 362 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,040 Speaker 1: talked about whether to tear up their company plan and 363 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: chase after a COVID vaccine. They're waiting in their apartment 364 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: for five or CEO Albert Burla to call. They're on edge. 365 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: They've heard that the independent panel of experts that's monitoring 366 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,479 Speaker 1: the trial is reviewing the results. They're expecting the panel's 367 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: predict at any moment. We both are very tense. The 368 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,639 Speaker 1: entire day. There was still the scenario that would be 369 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: oh THEO at all. Yeah, and remember that that understood 370 00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:00,040 Speaker 1: that I I was worried, and he said, you know, 371 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: it does not matter what we hear later today, it 372 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: might well be that does not look good, but anyway, 373 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: it was worth it and it was of a moral 374 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: obligation to at least try it. Finally, at eight p m. 375 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: The phone rings. Albert is on the line. They put 376 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: him on speaker. He said, do you want to know 377 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: the Lisa, and I said no. I realized already from 378 00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: his voice that there would be a positive a message, 379 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: but neither of them were prepared for just how good 380 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,440 Speaker 1: the results would be. Ure told me he was expecting 381 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: efficacy in the range of against the virus. They have 382 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: to hit at least fifty for the vaccine to be 383 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: considered viable for the market. What they get is well 384 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: above nine. This was incredible. Yeah, this was just wave 385 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: taking and that in this moment he understood, Hey, days, 386 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: a vaccine for mankind and corna is is a problem 387 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: that can be solved. Across the Atlantic, Phil Dormantzer is 388 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: sitting in his apartment close to find SoRs office when 389 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: he gets a similar call. He's sitting in the small 390 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,160 Speaker 1: room where he does his work. Zoom calls and because 391 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,920 Speaker 1: there's an embargo on this information, nobody can know because 392 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: nobody is supposed to trade on the announcement. His lips 393 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,439 Speaker 1: are sealed. Once I found out, I couldn't tell anyone. 394 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,120 Speaker 1: I mean, this was this was highly confidential material information 395 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: until it was announced publicly. I couldn't tell my wife, 396 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,199 Speaker 1: I couldn't tell anybody. So so it was. It was 397 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 1: actually a quiet moment. He has to keep quiet for 398 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: less than a day. On Monday, November nine, at six 399 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,239 Speaker 1: am in New York, Visor and BioNTech send out their 400 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: press releases and break the news to the world. Trials 401 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: carried out by the U s pharmaceutical John Fisa and 402 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: the German manufacturer bio in Tech suggest they have created 403 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: a coronavirus vaccine which is more than nine effective. It 404 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: is a great day for science. It is a great 405 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,879 Speaker 1: day for humanity, sort of like a bright ray of 406 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: sun pushing all the clouds away. The good news is 407 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: that science that has given us the vaccines that we 408 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: have have been a spectacular success story. We probably all 409 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: remember the moment we learned a vaccine is coming and 410 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: it's almost certainly going to work. Since this is Bloomberg, 411 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: I'll put it into financial terms, that Monday the vaccine news. 412 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: Since stocks around the world soaring by more than one 413 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,720 Speaker 1: point eight trillion dollars after months of uncertainty, people see 414 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: a way out of the pandemic. There are also some 415 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: skeptical voices that first press release doesn't have all the details, 416 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: the results of preliminary but it looks really, really good. 417 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: The researcher who helped start it all, Cattle and Kerrycho 418 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: gets the news in Pennsylvania. She'd been stuck in the 419 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: US while the vaccine was being developed, running her lab 420 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: in Germany. Via video chat after being in Pennsylvania and 421 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 1: a visit with her husband when countries closed their borders, 422 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 1: she tells CNNs Chris Cuomo she was confident the shot 423 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: would work. I heard you celebrated with an entire bag 424 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: of chocolate covered peanuts. Yeah it was Google. Yeah that's 425 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: my favorite. But you know, I am not a kind 426 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: of exuberant person who yeah, this is nice. In Philadelphia, JW. 427 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: Wiseman breathes a huge sigh of really, he'd been nervous 428 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: that great results and animals wouldn't translate. Remember how he said, 429 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: my sly and monkeys exaggerate. I got it in the 430 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: press release with everybody else. Um, so I was very nervous. 431 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: I was nervous because we've worked on probably twenty different 432 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 1: RNA vaccines or influenza, neuro virus, how HIV, a bunch 433 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: of different diseases, and just about every one of them 434 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: we had protection in our animal models. So I was 435 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: nervous because I was worried that the that the human 436 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: vaccine might be effective and we wouldn't know why and 437 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: we wouldn't understand why. So when I heard they were effective, 438 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: I was happy because that meant we saw in humans 439 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: what we had seen and everything from ice, the pigs, 440 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: the chickens and my cates to every animal we tried. 441 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: A week later, on November six, Moderna announces its vaccine 442 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: had been ninety four point five percent effective in a 443 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: similar huge trial. After more analysis, Visor bumps up its 444 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: trial results to From there, you know the story. The 445 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:28,280 Speaker 1: FDA and other regulators around the world clear the vaccines 446 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: for sale. That jump starts a global race to get 447 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,200 Speaker 1: enough shots. The vaccines will almost certainly be this year's 448 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:40,480 Speaker 1: best selling drugs. The fiser BioNTech shot is on track 449 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: for thirty six billion dollars in sales. Moderna had to 450 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: scale back its targets because of problems getting all the 451 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 1: vaccines it made into files and out to customers, but 452 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 1: still it's seeming for up to eighteen billion dollars in sales. 453 00:31:55,720 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: The vaccines can't end the pandemic all by themselves. Another 454 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: wave is rolling across the Northern Hemisphere and a new 455 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: highly mutated variant called Omicron has just emerged. Our ability 456 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: to deal with both will be hampered by significant pockets 457 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: of unvaccinated people who don't trust a shot that was 458 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:23,000 Speaker 1: developed so fast people still need masks. Countries with enough 459 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: doses to go around are rolling out booster shots the 460 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: top of community that seems to fade slightly around the 461 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: six month mark. The vaccines are also increasingly being approved 462 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: for kids. Lower income countries are in an even tighter 463 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: spot as wealthier places gobble up the available doses. But 464 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: as you were said, the shots have shown us the 465 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel, and if they 466 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 1: need to be altered to deal with the Omicron variant, 467 00:32:54,560 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: that should be possible within a matter of months. In 468 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: December eighteen, Catle and Curry Coo Andrew Wiseman go together 469 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:10,640 Speaker 1: to get vaccinated. Pennsylvania hospital had started giving shots two 470 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: days before and we are collaborating ever since, you know 471 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: we met at the xerox machine. They had come full circle. 472 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: We're waiting the hashcare workers into in line there to 473 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: get their vaccine, and you know, they collapsed and then 474 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: then I dried. It was exactly what she had wanted 475 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: why she left academia to take the job at BioNTech, 476 00:33:35,120 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: the chance to see her research help people. M Next 477 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: we come Breakthrough, We'll talk about what researchers like Catalan 478 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: and Derek were originally hoping to do with m R 479 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: and A your diseases. We'll look at whether success against 480 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: COVID is just the first step towards helping people with 481 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: everything from cancer to multiple sclerosis and malaria. Wherever protein 482 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,959 Speaker 1: is needed, it can be applied. That could be six 483 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:30,319 Speaker 1: thousand genetic diseases, oncology, cancer, mutated jeans. This episode of 484 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: Prognosis Breakthrough was written and reported by me Naomi Krasky 485 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,800 Speaker 1: So for Foreheads as our senior producer. Carl Kevan Robinson Jr. 486 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: Is our associate producer. Our theme music was composed and 487 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:46,880 Speaker 1: performed by Hannas Brown, Ema Court and Bob Langreth contributed reporting. 488 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,000 Speaker 1: Rick Shine is our editor Francesco Levi is the head 489 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Podcasts. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already, 490 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,280 Speaker 1: and if you liked this episode, please leave us a review. 491 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: It helps others find out about the show. Thanks for listening. 492 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: M