What are pharmaceutical companies doing to tackle COVID-19?
There are significant global efforts underway to diagnose, treat and prevent infections from the virus. Pharmaceutical companies are working globally to combat COVID-19 and have led the way in developing new vaccines and treatments. They continue to scale up global supply.听
Pharmaceutical companies have deep scientific knowledge gained from decades of experience with similar viruses.听
Companies are working on:
1. Stepping up global supply of approved vaccines
At October 2021, global COVID-19 vaccine production reached 9.3billion doses. The vaccine production effort is estimated to reach 12.5 billion doses by the end of 2021 and double again to 24 billion doses by June 2022, at which time vaccine supplies will most likely outstrip global demand.
The global industry has committed to 5 steps to urgently advance COVID-19 vaccine equity. Find out more
Many companies are already working together in partnership to scale up supply of vaccines for COVID-19.
AstraZeneca is collaborating with more than 20 partners to scale up supply of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, including through the multilateral COVAX initiative. This includes and in the UK.
Johnson & Johnson works with more than 12 partners on their vaccine, including and .
Novavax collaborates with 14 partners, including and
Pfizer and BioNTech have more than 10 partners to manufacture and distribute their vaccine around the world. This includes a to manufacture and distribute Covid-19 vaccine doses within Africa.
Moderna has more than 20 partners, including .
Read more about pharmaceutical company collaborations in .
2. Developing more vaccines
In addition to existing approved vaccines, pharmaceutical companies are working to discover more which might provide vital tools for fighting the pandemic.
In total, there are more than 130 vaccines in clinical development, and 194 more in pre-clinical. (Source: , accessed 15 December 2021)听
Examples include:
骋厂碍听announced that it will听听to jointly develop next generation mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 with the potential to address multiple emerging variants. GSK will also support the manufacture of 100 million doses of CureVac鈥檚 COVID-19 vaccine candidate in 2021.听
GSK and Sanofi are also working on a .听鈥�
GSK is also working with Canadian biopharmaceutical company Medicago, to develop a COVID-19 vaccine by combining Medicago鈥檚 plant-derived vaccine candidate with GSK's adjuvant technology. The companies have announced .听
Curevac and the UK Government are collaborating on the development of vaccines against COVID-19.听
3. Developing more treatments
There are a number of treatments already approved for use around the world. Pharmaceutical companies are continuing the search to find more.
At the middle of December 2021, there are more than 332 medicines in various stages of development. (Source: )
Examples of treatments now available include: (in the US) and antivirals from as well as .听
is working with Molecular Partners to develop two potential antiviral treatments for COVID-19 based on a new class of protein therapeutics.听
Last modified: 01 July 2024
Last reviewed: 01 July 2024