Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day sight. Since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic our main story. So many companies and organizations have publicly entered the contest to develop a coronavirus vaccine, from Johnson and Johnson to the University of Oxford, But one drug giant with the storied history of battling pandemics, MERK, had said nothing but joining
the race for months. Now we know it has been quietly developing two vaccine candidates and a pill to treat COVID nineteen, but the drug maker is hesitant to commit to a quick timeline. But first, here's what happened today. The ranks of people collecting unemployment in the US shrank for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. It's
a sign people are starting to return to work. But make no mistake, millions of Americans still filed new jobless claims, a measure of the ongoing benefit claims and state programs, fell to twenty one point one million, according to the Labor Department. Analysts had expected the number to rise. Despite the positive sign, economists expect the recovery from the pandemic to take years, and with no vaccine or significant treatment yet,
it's unlikely will return to normal activity anytime soon. A new drug cocktail is getting tested and hope scientists can find a stronger weapon against COVID nineteen. RASH Holding and Gilead Sciences are starting a trial of Rash's immune suppressor at Temera, used along with Gilad's anti viral drug remdesvere. Remdesivie is the only drug that's been shown to fight
the virus so far. While anti virals like remdesivie try to stop viruses from replicating, drugs like a Temera, often used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, fight inflammation, a symptom of the virus that can be just as damaging as the infection itself. Finally, Latin America is on a frightening coronavirus trajectory.
In March, when COVID nineteen was stamping out lives across the globe, the region looked like it might escape relatively unharmed, but now it has become the new epicenter of coronavirus. Latin American countries now account for about of daily deaths globally. Brazil has more cases than any country except the US. Mexico had its largest single increase in both cases and deaths this week, and at hop health official said about
thirty thousand people may die. Peru, Chili, and Columbia have all set daily records in the past week and now our main story. Out of the numerous organizations racing to develop a COVID vaccine, US drug giant Mark has recently emerged as a front runner. The drug maker is at work on not one, but two prospective vaccine candidates, drawing on its experience with ebola and measles and oculations as
a foundation for its COVID nineteen research. The company is also developing a coronavirus pill, one that would stem infections faster and easier. Although the company has refused to give firm timelines for its research, it has pledged to make its vaccines and pill available globally. I spoke with Bloomberg's Riley Griffin to learn more about Mark's initiatives to fight COVID nineteen. What is Mark doing to help fight coronavirus over the last century, Really, they've been a key player
as it pertains to public health crisis. Now after nearly six months since we first discovered what the novel coronavirus really was, we're finally hearing from them. They've been leading a quiet effort to reach multiple deals and secure federal funding to develop two vaccines and a pill to actually treat patients. And so this is really interesting because I think a lot of us have been hearing a lot about the vaccine work that's been done or is being
worked on by many different, many different organizations. How is the pill different? The pill is a really interesting one. Actually. It's an oral anti viral candidate that's in early clinical development. It was purchased by Mark from a small company called ridge Back bio Therapeutics UM and was originally discovered at
Emory University. This drug has been a little bit under the radar in the public in the public eye, but this announcement that came on May twenty six that it had agreed to buy the rights was was fairly novel. I had the opportunity to speak with Mark CEO Kenneth Fraser Um, and his perspective on this drug is that it actually has the potential to be easier to use
than Gilead's ram desiviere if successful. I'm sure, many of our listeners have actually heard about Gilead's ram desiviere, a drug that has been shown to alleviate COVID nineteen in some patients in the hospital setting. But this is an oral drug, which is different. Right, It's not um injected in the I c U and as such means that it's easily deployed. It's more easily made, and in Kenneth Fraser's perspective, has the potential to have greater impact at
the global scale. And you bring up a really important point, who will get these pills first globally um And according to Mark, what is their plan for distribution? I think Mark's overarching strategy here and how they see themselves fitting into this ecosystem of pharmaceutical players trying to develop vaccines and therapeutics to combat the pandemic is where can they
have impact and influence at a global scale. So when I when I spoke with CEO Ken Fraser, he said, in every case in which they tried to outline, for example, a vaccine that could be incorporated into the pipeline brought into the fold of their work, they wanted to hit three things. First, they wanted to make sure that this vaccine used existing technology that had been proven as safe
and efficacious in other diseases. Second, they wanted to make sure that the vaccine could be effective in a single dose. That changes how much output a company has to reach in terms of the manufacturing process. If you can ensure that in one dose you can immunize someone from the novel coronavirus, that is the potential to be more easily implemented on the ground. So what Mark is saying here is they want a one shot, a one dose vaccine
that can be deployable. They want to develop vaccines that could use technology or platforms that have already been proven to work safely and effectively in people. Mark is relying on their existing research and existing experience with other diseases
and other vaccines. For example, you you touched on their experience with ebola, and I believe even measles factors into this, and I was just wondering if you might unpack how their experience with these two ebola and measles can inform their work on developing, say the vaccine against COVID nineteen. So Mark reached a deal with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to develop a vaccine that would adapt a technology
already used in its Ebola shot. And remember, Mark is the only drugmaker that exists out there that has an f d A approved Ebola virus vaccine. That is incredibly important here, and that's what makes Mark so different from many of its peers is it has done this kind of work in global pandemic form and it's looking to its experience with the Ebola virus vaccine to ultimately bring a COVID nineteen vaccine to market. So that's one of
the twovaccines. The second candidate that they've settled on, they announced they would buy themiss A privately held biotechnology company for an undisclosed sum, but in turn gaining a vaccine candidate that it uses an existing measles virus vector platform. And what if any are Marks estimates in terms of time scale? How long will it take to develop these
vaccines and this pill. I think what Mirk would tell you, and as they've told me, is that they just have a legacy of experience in developing these kinds of vaccinations. But that also makes them reluctant to commit to aggressive timelines some that we've heard touted by health officials right Mark's Chief Patient Officer, Julie Gerberding, said that it may take more time to develop a successful and efficacious COVID
nineteen vaccine. She says that while she's optimistic that companies across the world might be able to meet those timelines, she knows from experience they've they've done this kind of work. They're looking to Ebola and their work developing an Ebola virus vaccine to guide them in which kinds of technologies may be efficacious or may lead to efficacious vaccines, or,
as Ken Fraser says, they're starting with a platform. They understand how the platform works, they understand how to scale it up, and that serves as really useful information when plugging in a new kind of virus. He described one as a hardware and a software. These platforms they're the hardware, are information about the coronavirus. That's the software that they need to plug and play. So in this case, they're
looking to existing frameworks to shuttle forth new technology. You know, we've heard about so many other research organizations and toots working on vaccines. Why are we only hearing about merk now. Mark has been quieter about their vaccine and drug development efforts over the last few months as many other contenders have come forth, So big news from a company that has a legacy in vaccinations, has considered itself a global health leader, developed the very first vaccine for the bolavirus.
It's a monumental time for the company and Ken Frasier, who announced succession plans for a new CEO to fill his shoes. Um, he's he's in it in the moment and he thinks continuity of leadership is important and it's all coming at a very important time for this company. That was Riley Griffin and that's our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from on the bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com Flash Coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating
on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topher Foreheaz, Jordan Gaspure, Magnus Hendrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Riley Griffin. Original music by Leo Sidran. Our editors are Francesco Levi and Rick Shawn Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.