Large Cap Public Companies Developing Drugs and Diagnostics Tools for COVID-19

eResearch | COVID-19 has reached over 2.5 million confirmed cases worldwide, with the number of reported deaths approaching 200,000, which has called for drastic regulatory measures to support the pharmaceutical industry in developing (1) vaccines, (2) treatments, and (3) tests.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) started providing unprecedented flexibility by giving Emergency Usage Authorizations (“EUA”) to numerous pharmaceutical companies, in an effort to expedite research and development of COVID-19 medicines and diagnostic tools.

A large number of public companies have since accelerated research and development aimed at the COVID-19 virus, with many partnering together to leverage synergies in proprietary medical technologies and diagnostic tools to shorten the time between the analysis of the virus and the development of a vaccine.

From the table of 45 companies at the bottom of the article, we have provided additional details on nine publicly traded companies focused on developing vaccines, treatments, and tests.

COVID-19 Vaccines

Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ARCT) is a pharmaceutical company in the U.S. who uses its proprietary lipid-enabled delivery system called the LUNAR to develop messenger RNA medicines that target rare diseases and vaccines.

Earlier this month, Arcturus announced plans to start human trials with its COVID-19 vaccine called LUNAR-COV19, with 76 volunteers who are expected to be tested under the guidance of the Singapore Health Sciences Authority. LUNAR-COV19 is a low dose, GMP certified vaccine, with deliveries expected to start in June.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and its partner, BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), a German technology company focused on immunotherapy research, announced this week the initiation of trials in Germany for its COVID-19 vaccine called BNT162.

BNT162 was jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and is expected to be clinically tested within the U.S. after regulatory approvals and within China through a partnership with Fosun Pharma, a leading pharmaceutical company in China.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) is a pharmaceutical company in the U.S. focused on the development of immunotherapy medicines through its Toll-Like Receptor stimulation, which supports the immune system in recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns.

Last week, Dynavex announced a partnership with Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA), a China-based pharmaceutical company focused on developing vaccines for infectious diseases, to create a COVID-19 vaccine. In March, Dynavex also partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Clover Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ASX: CLV) to collaborate in developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus.

COVID-19 Treatments

Novartis International AG (NYSE: NVS) is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies based in Switzerland, focused on discovering and developing treatments for various diseases, with popular brands such as Clozaril, Voltaren, and Diovan.

Novartis announced this week that it received approval in the U.S. to start trials in evaluating the effects of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial treatment, on patients affected by the COVID-19 virus. The FDA recently approved the emergency use of the two drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for the COVID-19 virus after a study showed 65 out of 80 patients improving and being discharged from the hospital in less than five days after the treatment.

Bayer AG (ETR: BAYN) is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Germany, focused on agriculture science and pharmaceutical product development, with globally known brands such as Aleve and Claritin.

This week, Bayer announced that it would invest C$1.5 million towards research into various treatments for the COVID-19 virus, through a partnership with the Population Health Research Institute in Canada who will provide C$500,000. Two studies will be conducted with 6,000 patients from more than 60 various research sites.

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) is one of the world’s largest independent pharmaceutical companies located in the U.S., focused on discovering, developing, and delivering treatments for cancer and other serious rare diseases.

Earlier this month, Amgen announced a partnership with Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT) to leverage its immune medicine platform with Amgen’s genetics and immunology engineering capabilities to develop a treatment for the COVID-19 virus. Adaptive Biotechnologies’ immune medicine platform is a proprietary product that is able to analyze large amounts of genetic data from the immune system at scale.

COVID-19 Tests

Hoffmann-La Roche Holdings AG (SWX:RO) is the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company located in Switzerland, focused on developing medical diagnostic tools through its numerous subsidiaries including Genentech and Ventana Medical Systems in the U.S., and Chugai Pharmaceuticals (TYO: 4519) in Japan.

Roche Holdings is planning to launch its antibody test for the COVID-19 virus next month, which will analyze blood samples for antibodies that are present in patients who are affected by the virus. Roche Holdings expects to ramp up production of the tests to the millions by June, which is possible through its extensively scaled operations.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is a pharmaceutical company in the U.S. focused on developing medical devices, diagnostic tools, and generic medicines, with a research-focused subsidiary called AbbVie, which it spun off in 2013.

Last week, Abbott Laboratories announced the shipment of 566,000 COVID-19 testing kits called the ID Now to all 50 U.S. states. The ID NOW system can only test one patient at a time, but the system can detect positive cases in as low as five minutes and detect negative cases in as low as 13 minutes.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) is a developer of scientific tools and software for government, corporate, and academia partners, with a focus on chemical analysis, clinical diagnosis, and biological-based therapeutics manufacturing.

Last month, Thermo Fisher received an EUA from the FDA to use its COVID-19 test called the AcroMetrix in laboratories across the U.S., with capabilities to deliver results within four hours. On March 26, Thermo Fisher received the CE Mark from the European Union, which provides indication of safe and environmentally protected standards for products sold within the European Economic Area.

TABLE 1: Public Companies Researching COVID-19

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