Biotech is the ability to take the structures of a cell and make it work for you and that ed 1973 with the first tools that would develop then ty what lead to the entire industry. How is the biotech industry l playing aog role in the coronavirus pandemic. Early in van of this year most of the industry was focuses on cancer. When about 55 of it, with very little programs in covid. When the industry came together we called them togtt and asked us to tell us what they saw happening in china. What i that saw happening in china lead them to say were going to jump on finding cures and vaccines right now. An this was in january. Was the between now and january 707 programs for initiated. But it was an entire industry that pivoted not because we were asked to do it but because we decided it was the right thing n to do. He horiz we are where we are today, you have close to 170 new vaccines on the horizon. Really imminent and in additions to which you haveve a hostz of u an antivirals. Moderna has a vaccine, this follows fiezers news. Mo what role did they play in the vaccines. They found it at its core. It was financed by it, they too the risk, they stepped into an area that was unknown, and you had them partnering dealing with the kind of vaccine that was really a out liar, something that had been around for three decades, but finally these two , companies took the risk, had investors help them, and with the help of a Large Company like pfizer, they have now own. A pfizer result. They were called to this. They were front and center. Explain the science. Otechn it is quite fascinating. As i said it is all about unpacking the tools of understanding your body, how you make the cells work for you. The vaccines are an exact example of that. To the science says that when the l jeans and the information they instruct your sales on what to do, it does that through a specific message. Ein, but if you can trick the cell to say i want you not to make a human pro teen, but a virus pro teen, you can get that into the human sell and they willof use the it piece of information to make the virus protein. To and that is that little peg. And the body says im going to attack that, im going to make antibodies that defend the body, and im going to teach myl white sells. In fantastic, really novel, and it is a little industrial factory to make this protein. They do how are our cells reacting s right now to covid19, and what are you trying to trick them not to do . When you get that youre not prepared for the virus, it has other arms and weapons inside of it, so when it gets into your your body tries to react against that, but youre being over whelmed by other weapons that the virus brings. In some cases you will be Strong Enough to mount a response. Some people are, other people lf are not, otheren people are ill. For the moment it is important to understand that some people , will defend, others cant. So youre stripping away all of those other weapons and youre putting in a pure protein. Youre arming yourself and of pt youreti fighting. What are the weapons . Ects are they natural components . What are some side effects from putting this in our bodies . There is side effects to every medicine, you have to be careble about what you do, but we concurred the problem. It was first thought that if you put them into your body they e would cause a reaction. For the it took three decades and really hard work of scientists that were never recognized from their work initially. Too take away from that to knowing very clearly, if you have a few shots of this the chances of a bad reaction have t gone downei dramatically. The Information Package that bu contains all of the data of that virus protein into your body, we got rid of that. I think that is really exciting. It will cause the whole event. Will cause something else, it is not just that we have cracked the code for a vaccine against covid. It is likely that we will also from this attack other disorders. So this is exciting across the board. To let our viewers that i know that are listening intently to you right now becausepart of were not getti phone calls. If you live in the Eastern Central part of the country, 204 here is your number. And medical professionals, 2027488002. So on what you were just saying, if you so this is a virus. Made up of the common cold. Disc this is not the flu, correct . Mn so what does this mean, this t discovery of a vaccine, what does it mean for other future pandemics . Cal this is very good news from a technical perspective. There is largely a big jump in solving. A huge judmp. It isdiscov quite unimaginable. E however, those scientific discoveries that will help fight back future problems will face r anin equal problem unless we lee what we havent done. But lets go back to the technical side. The technical side is really very interesting. It takes a long time to develop a flew vaccine today. But with this new kind, it is conceivable that from the fron starting point, t 60 days later you would have a new vaccine. We have seen it. No we have seen it happen right in front of our eyes right now. We had from a start of zero at the beginning of the year, 12 months later were on the cusp of approval for two new vaccines. This ise remarkable, and we learned with the Gold Standard. Of science and medicine at the e fda, the incredible efforts of all of the efforts, to unravel these viruss, we have, for the first time now, an opportunity toto feel confident that if we n solve all of these other r this nontechnical things, distributi distribution, all of the things required if this, we know that the biotech industry will be able to solve for future pandemics. Lets get to the phone calls with harrison in dc. Go caller good morning. I think they ought to try high speed trains and get a lot of ri the automobile traffic offn of the roads. Japan has the bullet train and france has a high speed train. Okay, harrison, off topic. Mary in oklahoma . Yes, im 72, how soon can you get it approved by the cdc and how soon can i get the shot . Mary, great question. We know that the final safety steps all satisfactory, and we need to trust in the fd they, they have a great process for this, and very shortly or there after they will do the same wit, moderna. Once they have that initial safety package in, we know thatk multily other companies are 500 beginning manufacturing. So the likelihood would be 50,000 doses by the end of this year. Once that first initial doses a that gonend to First Responders those in critical need, it is vital there be cooperation between the incoming at min appe straight and thed Current Administration to insurance it moves smoothly. To yo were feeling good that were m going to get the distribution. I am confidence that the wheels are rolling and im confidence for a couple reasons. One because the leader of the process has one of the most mos out standing track records for producing vaccines. He is exactly what to do and how to do it. Hael i if we could just trip out tstri politics you will get it soon. ,t yes. Was i would to like to know why are running, hiding, doing this, doing that. I mean if 90 of us dont know if we have it. I mean you people are makinge it sound s like people are diei in the streets for god sake. Why dont you Say Something . That most people okay, doctor, go head. Mike it wi michael it is interesting, we have 260,000p with people dead. Were going upwards to 400,000 unless were super careful. Youre just not seeing it. People forget elections and politics. Oved, they dont forget gravestones. Each person that dies is a person that is loved. Someone treasured by their family. Its not a question of dying in thethat h street. That has happened and we learned that we would never want this, that happened in the 13th ankly, century in europe. Right now were dealing with a national prcatastrophe. Frankly anyone that sees it other, michael, is really causing a problem. Let me be very plublunt about t. You and those around you need to understand this. This is not trivial. Look at the physical consequences and the anguish i cost in our nation. Im not prepared for one minute to say that anyone one of those lives isnt important. If it was a cancer you would bes sad. If we had a pandemic of cancer e what would you say . We have a pap determineic i aowing day after dayay after d. Diana, youre next. Thank you i would like to ask dr. Levin, im so excited about the vaccines. I have been up and down. I had my doubts about it but he is making me more undoubtful. I have stage three copd. I am 58 years old. How will we know when the time comes if if we will be prioritized. Good question, im sorry about the copd, i know how tough that is, i have treated many , w patients over the year. R. I fully understand what it means to you, it is a tough one, if w havemedi a coherent medical rese based on medicine, people like i yourself or anyone with a major med kl issue, will be prioritized. And i cannot imagine that any of those who are returning the program in warp speed or the Incoming Administration can possibly not prooirti tipriorit of your kind. I i hope that your local government, your local health officials, will be able to tell owe exactly where and when. I would encourage you to ask them, okay, i have a problem, when are you going to do it . In my case i go every two weeks to the town council and i brief my town council here at the beheast of the mayor, and i ws a educate everybody on everything we know. We have a response plan. Were ready, everybody in the rt town. Knows what will happen, everyone is in touch with the hospitals, doctors, and the dia governors. I urge you to demand the same ve from your local community. What confidence can you givee diana and others who have underlying conditions that are taking medications that this vaccine and the work that the companies did will not interfere or have negative consequences for them . That is a wonderful question, we dont know everything about these vaccines yet. We had about 100,000 people in total on it. The period of time has been small, we dont know who will respond best, but we will be there. The best information that we have is that in general they do not interfere. Just to put something to rest as we talk about this, there was a complete lie in 1986 that vaccines cause autism. It lead around the world and lead to an noenormous amount of doubt about the vaccines. That was a complete lie that was corrected by those that put it out. So now does this vaccine cause any problems. We dont know enough of it, but based on all of the vaccines in a we have seen over the years and the excellence that we have in production, the safety profiles that the fda will looka at, im confident that they will have a significant effect with minimal outcome. Know ta i would recommend once the fda approved it that my family, myself, and others that i know, take it. Lets go to helen in n readin fullerton, california. Youre next. Yes, hi, here is my concern. I have been reading articles about this in scientific america and also articles in jm the economist. My concern is that we are that political and academeconomics in influencing hard science. Tirous. Coming up with these put ou miraclet vaccines as a scienti you know this is very dangerous. You dont put out a medication that has been developed and tested within what . In a year . 12 months . And and you give it out to people. It is very dangerous and it nomt flies in thehi face of scientif message. I also heard you speak about the detrimental effect on the economy, but you dont injekt people within untested medicatis and vaccines just to just because you have been influenced. Hellllenhelen, lets have d respond to those two points. I understand exactly what youre saying. Ccine an russia did that. They didnt even run through a g proper set of tests. They just had a vaccine and thep started vaccinating people before it had done anything remotely compared to what so pfizer, moderna, and other hundreds of companies now involved in this have done and have galvanized to do. Hul so youre right, but unfortunately because of the enormous political noise that we listen to, the noise coming froe everywhere, this puts a huge amount of of uncertainty. Please as we look at this vaccine, understand that we have a couple super Gold Standards. Those secures are their lyes. Sty theyre going to give these things to their kids. They will give it to their kids. This is the industry that delivered some of the most extraordinary cures for cancer. There is a lot of evidence that the industry itself, the intentions of the industry are science and medicine. D. Then you have an fda, lets salute the fda. They the Gold Standard around p the world for safety and efficacy. Hasten the process to do it before the election. M we have to salute them because g they said, no,uida were going run the right process. Take a moment just to read the l letters and the guide answeance put out. These are exceptional guidances. I have a lot of confidence that what were putting out is the right approach. What i didnt have confidence in is them standing up and saying, no more politics, were going ta focus on science and medicine. Then you had the Large Companies. For the first time ever, the Large Companies all wrote a dow letter saying they are going tol follow the guidelines exactly as laid down by the fda, irrespective of political , pressure. So i thinkacademia there is a la industry hasll risen up, academd has rinz sen up, and the scientc method you point out is solv absolutely powerful. It took three decades to solve for this problem that the mrna solved for. Then it was tested pretty extensively, actually, and to the credit of all of those who really worked on this, they to l followed ali rigid protocol. Th. Now, i cant promise you that after giving this to millions of people, we wont find things. I can tell you, however, just to your point, in august of last e year, the administration took away the very office that t monitors for safety. So now thats why the transitioe from the current efforts througe to the new administration need to be seamless, because you notc only have to get the vaccine distributed efficiently to the right people, you also have to mnitor and understand what the safety issues are. T i am and like i said before, every medicine is a safety issue, but i am very confident based on what weve seen to date that this is a very effective and g seemingly verymo safe approach. Katie, gambrils, maryland, youre on the air with dr. Levin. Caller good morning. Thank you, cspan. Im curious about the long term situation. Once people start getting theses vaccines, basically, is covid going to go away, or will we have to keep getting this supeb vaccine, like, every year for gn years to come . Great question, katie. Superb question, right on go target. Look, the best that we know today is that, number one, covid is not going away. Number two, that we may have to have boosters. But now there is really good news about this. If and i say if if the 90 plus efficacy and a good ak Safety Program is there, this ml will be muchio betterns than thu vaccines which we take. I take a flu vaccine, millions of others do, and yet that vaccine is only 40 to 60 effective. So im very confident that if the profile holds up, i would be willing to go to my walmart, cvs or any of the major distribute distributers out there to give us our . Vaccines, but its not going away. The genie is out of the bottle, and unfortunately we have to live with it. Is it not going away because why, dr. Levin . Good new does it mutate . Does it change every year like the flu . Sa we dont know. This n it is mutating, we see that. The good news about the mutations are that remember what i said to you earlier on. If this new type of vaccine can pivot. In 60 days you can have a new version of that vaccine to attack anything that the virus throws at us. So you will, and we have seen, mutations. Im grateful that to date we havent seen a mutation that makes it more dangerous. Ne the we have seen ones that seem to be able to infect more, but not ones that have gone the added step that makes it a lot more vicious. There is also the possibility ho that over time, it will start to get less, but thats unlikely. Clede in new york. Youre a medical professional. What do you do . Im actually an oncologist, and im under the treatment h actually, im sitting in the hospital receiving my treatment my question to dr. Levin is that for those like us who are eithev immunocompromised or the country is receiving treatments which will reduce the effectiveness of the immune system, how do the mrna vaccine, how effective it will be because we will already be receiving it in tions to immunosuppressives is. Will we receive good and strong antibodies . Do they make any suggestions toward that fact . Absolutely central question. H i can only explain and offer some suggestion here. To those who are listening, what the doctor just said is he himself is undergoing therapy, and that therapy is partrt of about the therapy is toit reduce his immune system. Be kind so how does the vaccine work . Tor we dont know enough about it. However, if youll be kind enough to link us together, i would be happy to introduce youn to the folks who aree running te trial to ask that question. Im sure this is a question thats been asked cabefore, and suspect that people in all the e around the rs country need to know that answer, because many of them are undergoing the same kinds of e therapy. Its not just cancer, its other disorders like lupus and even multiple sclerosis where you have efforts to reduce the immune system. An get t its a very important question,i and i dont have the answer for you, but im sure we can get you to the right people who do. Dr. Levin, if folks go to your website bio. Org, could this doctor and others reach out to you that way . Yes, please do so. Okay. Ller bio. Org for the doctor that was just asked his question and others who have questions. Matt in asheville, north carolina. Hi, go caller hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. dr. R. T ev levin e askn how are the American People supposed to trust vaccine manufacturers when the manufacturers wont even stand behind the product themselves . In any type of problem, they are just referred to the National Vaccine injury compensation program. It seems to me if these vaccines were really safe, the tim manufacturers would stand behind their product. And also, any time you watch daytime television now, you seee advertisements foror class acti lawsuits against products that e werey were once thought safe, p upon the people, now found out they were horribly not safe. Ill take my call off the air. It thank you. T right, matt. You touched on a point which is so sad, and its sad because of the following. Weve created an industry in this country which lives off essentially suing people for other things when they do it in the best intentions. Every medicine has a side effect. The question is, have you given them intentionally to hurt somebody . Let me give you an example. This whole fuss around terrib hydroxychloroquine, which came out and was sent around and people started talking about it in march, terrible. This is not a drug for covid. Should never have been out there. I havent heard of very many ern suits about people who have beet hurt, but we do know people have died. In counterpoint, every single manufacturer of the vaccines, he every single manufacturer of the new antivirals is acutely , conscious of the fact that you have many not a huge mone number y but many firms who e looking for the opportunity to make money on the suffering of others. So the i i would say to you leta little cautious about pointing e the finger at the industry. This industry, yes, there have been bad actors, but not once, o to the best of my knowledge, no. Once has anybody put out a product with the intention to yy harm another patient. To the contrary, everyone goes d to work every morning, to the e best of my knowledge, and asks h the question, how cane i help a patient . And yes, there may be side ce fr effects. Thats why we have the fda, not thats why, yes, were fortunate we do have insurance for it. Not because we believe its going to cause an injury, but, rather, that we know there are people out there who will sue. Dr. Jeremy levin, we startedg this conversation with you o talking about how the biotech industry pivoteded at the beginning of this pandemic, tha. They were largely focusing on cancer, but then pivoted at the pandemic. And you said money poured in. Rg explain the process of getting. Investors, how much money were talking about, and the margins of profit for these companies. So i wrote i collected 47 histories of individual ceos and published it in june just to ask the question like you asked y, here. What happened . What were you thinking about . What did you do . Not about the technologies, about the real life stories of each of these individuals. Its called biotechnology in the time of covid19. Ceeds go what i did there by the way,c just to be very clear, all of the proceeds from that go to bu research into genetic diseases, so its not something that im promoting for that reason. But what happened was that whens you find a new technology in biotechnology, often a scientis. Will go and seek funding. Not from the nih but from ferent venture capitalists. Now, these venture capitalists themselves have had to go to a a numberzy of different sources themselves to get a pool of money to invest in exciting, new, sometimes crazy ideas. An and the vast majority of these h companies do not produce anything, unfortunately. They failed. And they fail repeatedly. But the great strength to f america, the great strength, this is a strategic strength of america is that we formed a pool of capital in the private capital thats in the hands of t venture capitalists and others, and then weve created an industry in banking that allows you to say, okay, ive got maybe a bit of a nutty idea, but itsv really worthwhile trying out g because it could help a patient. So the individual scientist e goes, they meet the venture capitalist. This was done in moderna, for example. The particular venture capitalist was flagship, and they said, let us help you pull this together. Let us help