The Vaccines Are Almost Ready, but the Challenges Are Only Beginning
The coronavirus pandemic is ushering in a wave of innovation across industries, and it's not just the vaccine makers who are trying new things. Now that Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) have announced positive results from clinical trials, the next step is figuring out how to get their vaccines to patients. Venerable glass-maker Corning (NYSE: GLW) is one company that will be stepping up in the rush to get a vaccine to every corner of the globe.
Image source: Gety Images.
Medical glass is more difficult to manufacture than regular glass; Schott, Corning, and Nipro Pharma Corporation control the bulk of market share for the material used to make the special vials and syringes that are so critical to vaccine distribution. But since at least May, experts including Bill Gates, the CEO of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN), the head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) have been warning that a shortage of medical glass would pose a serious problem when it came to the global distribution of a coronavirus vaccine.
Source Fool.com
