Behind the World’s Top Drugmakers’ Approach to Zika Vaccine
- Glaxo, J&J, Merck haven’t committed to developing innoculation
- Drugmakers rushed into Ebola work, only to see outbreak wane
A lab technician displays Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria in a test tube for a photograph at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, Feb. 19, 2016. Supercharged mosquitoes could play a crucial part in fending off a large-scale global outbreak of the Zika virus as laboratories explore a method of releasing Wolbachia carrying mosquitoes back to nature. Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium that researchers, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have found to block transmission of dengue and may also stop other mosquito-borne viruses.
Photographer: Dado Galdieri/BloombergWhat if a drugmaker spent billions of dollars to create a vaccine -- only to find out humans developed natural resistance to the disease before its product is ready?
That is part of the scenario GlaxoSmithKline Plc and other pharmaceutical giants are weighing in their cautious approach to developing a Zika vaccine.