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How COVID-19 Defined 2020 For Biopharma

A Timeline Of Industry's Response To The Pandemic

 
• By Alaric DeArment

Development of vaccines usually takes years, but drug makers whittled the process down to a matter of months amid a concerted response to a global health threat.

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The COVID-19 pandemic was a defining moment for the biopharmaceutical industry • Source: Shutterstock

The annus horribilis that was 2020 ends on a far more hopeful note than it began, with two vaccines against COVID-19 receiving emergency use authorizations from the US Food and Drug Administration and several drug treatments available for those already infected with a virus that has robbed the world of more than 1.5 million lives, sickened millions more and caused economic devastation on a scale unseen since the Great Depression.

The biopharmaceutical industry quickly rose to the challenge of combatting COVID-19, with a full pipeline of vaccines and therapeutics within months. The industry has nevertheless not been immune to the...

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