Merck's two Covid vaccine candidates flunk out

[sesquiterpene]

Merck's two candidates flunk out at early Phase I trials when they fail to achieve antibody levels compared to convalescent patients. Both candidates were based on other live vaccines, one measles and the other on VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus, used for a successful Ebola vaccine)
Merck Discontinues Development of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Continues Development of Two Investigational Therapeutic Candidates - Merck.com
and
In a major setback, Merck to stop developing its Covid-19 vaccines - STAT

Results from two other late stage vaccines are expected within weeks - J & J's adenovirus vaccine, and Novovax's spike protein vaccines. Both are in Phase III, so results will include efficacy measurements and will likely be quickly approved if they work well,

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Merck's two candidates flunk out at early Phase I trials when they fail to achieve antibody levels compared to convalescent patients. Both candidates were based on other live vaccines, one measles and the other on VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus, used for a successful Ebola vaccine)
Merck Discontinues Development of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Continues Development of Two Investigational Therapeutic Candidates - Merck.com
and
In a major setback, Merck to stop developing its Covid-19 vaccines - STAT

Results from two other late stage vaccines are expected within weeks - J & J's adenovirus vaccine, and Novovax's spike protein vaccines. Both are in Phase III, so results will include efficacy measurements and will likely be quickly approved if they work well,

I think whoever wins the race to the first authorized single-shot vaccine will the game changer.

However, I think this vaccine race sort of highlights an example of where, with regards to particular goods/services that have inelastic demand, for all of the good things competition produces...sometimes there's some value in collaboration as well.

Given that each of these vaccine makers are being given huge contracts by the government (meaning, in essence, we're all paying for it), I wouldn't think it should be unreasonable to stipulate that massive contract with the terms indicating that there has to be at least some level of collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

If Moderna found a way to formulate it as such, that there's no ridiculously low temp storage requirement, and J&J are onto figuring out how to get it into a single shot, seems like there's an opportunity for the scientists working for each drug maker to collaborate and share some knowledge and "team up" on this one.

 

[sesquiterpene]

Given that each of these vaccine makers are being given huge contracts by the government (meaning, in essence, we're all paying for it), I wouldn't think it should be unreasonable to stipulate that massive contract with the terms indicating that there has to be at least some level of collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

Well, there is some cooperation - Astrazenica is having a plant in India produce it's vaccine for distribution in developing nations, and Sanofi (which had one of it's candidate vaccines fail) announced yesterday it will help produce Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine. Unfortunately it looks like it might be July before they can gear up.
Covid vaccine: Sanofi to help produce 100 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Well, there is some cooperation - Astrazenica is having a plant in India produce it's vaccine for distribution in developing nations, and Sanofi (which had one of it's candidate vaccines fail) announced yesterday it will help produce Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine. Unfortunately it looks like it might be July before they can gear up.
Covid vaccine: Sanofi to help produce 100 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses

I had seen that there was some cross-company collaboration with regards to manufacturing resources and production facilities...and that's a good thing. (especially if one isn't actively working on one of the key candidate vaccines, and has large production and distribution capabilities)

...but the collaboration aspect I was referring to was actual knowledge sharing between the "big brains" from each of the organizations.

For instance, letting the Pfizer team pick the brains of the Moderna team as to how they were able make a vaccine that can remain stable under normal refrigeration requirements...and allowing them to pick the brains of the J&J team that sounds like they're going to be able to get a single-shot vaccine.

Obviously they're competing companies, and nobody is expecting them to share all of their "tricks of the trade" with regards to their other endeavors, but with regards to Covid-19, and the fact that each company is being given multi-billion dollar contracts for it from the government, specifically for Covid-19 vaccine programs, this isn't a standard "competition" environment per say...

At the end of the day, if that transfer of knowledge could happen, we could potentially have all vaccine makers for Covid, producing single-shot vaccines, that are stable under normal storage requirements, which would be ideal as the "super cold" requirement is one challenge, and having it broken up into two parts, 3 weeks apart, is likely going to create some challenges as well.

 

[sesquiterpene]

...but the collaboration aspect I was referring to was actual knowledge sharing between the "big brains" from each of the organizations.

Collaborations on this level are also ubiquitous between various organizations. Most everyone in the field is at least passingly familiar with what their competitors are doing. I did a cursory look at the the patent literature about a month ago, and my impression is that the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines are going to be very similar indeed. It might be that the storage differences between the two might only reflect how conservative they are regards to degradation standards.

and allowing them to pick the brains of the J&J team that sounds like they're going to be able to get a single-shot vaccine.

The J&J vaccine is so different from the others that there probably won't any lessons to learn - and we really don't know if J&J's vaccine is even effective.

At the end of the day, if that transfer of knowledge could happen, we could potentially have all vaccine makers for Covid, producing single-shot vaccines, that are stable under normal storage requirements, which would be ideal as the "super cold" requirement is one challenge, and having it broken up into two parts, 3 weeks apart, is likely going to create some challenges as well.

There are so many different approaches being tried out now that a one size fits all vaccine isn't going to happen - and that's a very good thing.