Coronavirus Outbreak: Colorado Lab On Track To Be Among First To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Dozens of companies around the world are working to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, and Colorado scientists are among those working around the clock. Greffex is a leader in genetic engineering and vaccine development, and CEO John Price says they are on track to be one of the first companies to make a coronavirus vaccine available.
"There are probably 35 companies in some stage of development around the world," Price said.
The majority of their development is done out of a lab in Aurora.
"All the science we develop is in Colorado and any new science goes through the lab," he said.
Having developed successful vaccines for both the MERS virus and SARS, Price says they were able to create a COVID-19 vaccine candidate in less than a month. They are now moving into trials involving animals.
"We believe we can have a vaccine done before the end of November and that only is restricted by the amount of capital we get, the amount of money we bring in for certain things like the manufacturing process," he said.
While we know some companies may already be in some phase of human testing, the question will also be how many doses can be made and how quickly.
"Our answer is we can make 100 million doses in 90 days," Price said.
By not using any strain of the virus in the Greffex vaccine, Price believes it will also be one of the safest.
"This isn't an arms race. We are all trying to get to the same answer. There will never be enough vaccines for all the problems we have in the world. ... So I don't necessarily care who's the fastest, I care who is the best."
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Once a vaccine is developed and approved, Price says they will develop a plan to distribute it. That will be a process that likely will be left to the Department of Health and Human Services.
