Agencies partner with private sector to speed COVID-19 vaccine, treatments

The Department of Health and Human Services will partner with more than a dozen biopharmaceutical companies and the European Medicines Agency to prioritize vaccine and drug candidates, streamline clinical trials and coordinate regulatory processes to respond to the pandemic, the National Institutes of Health announced today.

“We need to bring the full power of the biomedical research enterprise to bear on this crisis,” said NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D. “Now is the time to come together with unassailable objectivity to swiftly advance the development of the most promising vaccine and therapeutic candidates that can help end the COVID-19 global pandemic.”

In addition to NIH, HHS participants in the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines partnership include the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.