Retailers, factories, restaurants, bars, schools, gyms, hair salons, las vegas can see notes, even houses of worship all shuttered for the number people to be together one time. At an addition many of us worked told to work from home purred we learned a new phrase social distancing keeping is far enough from everyone else to not get the transition of the virus are discovered 19. Many have been told to shelter in place meeting to just stay home. Meantime, President Trump, treasury secretary mnuchin and congress traveled to provide millie and billions of dollars in aid to offset which could decimate airlines and hotels as well as many small businesses. In addition, washington plans to provide direct Financial Assistance to families and individuals being hurt by the loss of their income as their employer shut down operation. And wall street continued its massive self, essentially wiping out all of the gains it has made since President Trump took office. And the virus even hooked the New York Stock Exchange itself which announces temperate closing with Trading Floor next week after two people tested positive. Despite all the dire headlines, we did see some signs of hope. On monday, the first trials of a possible vaccine for the coronavirus got underway. On thursday, the president said the fda will move quickly deceived drugs already approved for other illnesses might be effective in treating covid19. And pharmaceutical firms reported they were experimenting with various medicines to treat the infected. One of those companies its founder and ceo joins me on skype now from new york. Thank you very much for being with us. And so thank for having me. Gerry let me start by asking you this is an escalating crisis we face here. What needs to be done immediately, and how would you rate mike can you measure the response has been going on so far, and what further measures unchecked measures may be taken to limit the impact of this virus . So at the first thing i would say is yes we are a little late to the game on testing. But widespread testing as soon as possible is still of essential importance. I think one of the things we have to take away is humility. We have it every step of this crisis so far learn things that were new that we did not expect it every step of the way. Think that humility is going to service well. As it pertains to testing i think there is a couple lessons that crystallizes well and that widespread testing could have prevented the viral spread at an earlier point in time earlier than we ultimately did and we failed to deliver that test. Theres a lot of reasons why, but think the main lesson is Pretty Simple and will make and still apply which is to leave innovation to the private sector ultimately working collaboratively both with government and with private enterprises to deliver solutions sooner. Gerry dont to come onto that a want to come on with the private sector needs to do. But in terms of what they seem to do is narrow can california much of the country soon, and full kind of suppression mode with basically isolating people as far as we possibly can for a considerable period of time. Is that going to be enough to you think to ensure, this is obvious to the principal challenge here that as the infection rate increases on the people who are sick increase we dont overwhelm our medical facilities . So i think we need to be making judicious choices about what actions we prioritize right now. Of course we should be doing Everything Possible but we also need to prioritize. First velvety defocus actions disproportionately on the elderly in high risk patients. We know patients with compromised lung function or greater risk. We need to be focusing on disproportionately on the patients we know who are at risk. Weve already seen the military being put in place to provide extra hospital bed capacity and thats a re autofocus. We are past the point where this could be one 100 contained but we are not past the point where we can still invest in a hospital bed capacity, converting operating rooms which are equipped to double as icus, think thats another place we ought to be investing. And its not too late to be invest in therapeutics either. This are couple of areas we could still be effective in therapeutics, Hospital Capacity and a disparate portion of focus on those are at high risk already. Gerry is weak compared to bit of it italy and china on the side of therapies what kind of therapies are there . What is showing promise how quickly might we able to get them . Absolutely there is a lot of therapies and development let me break it down into a couple of buckets. On one you have vaccines which prevent people from contracting the virus from getting the disease theres two kinds of vaccines one or peptide based in what are known as rna based vaccines. In this case we have seen much more rapid production of these are in a based vaccines which shows a principal advantage of using that to create a vaccine the flipside is an rna based vaccine has never really demonstrated efficacy in these areas so we are charting truly uncharted territory here but the progress we have made quickly as promising and exciting. On the other hand we have therapeutics which are actually treating people have been affected. In therapeutics i would break it down into two broad categories as well first there is therapeutics that directly target the virus itself and second you have therapeutics that target the immune system and in particular preventing the immune system from resulting in acute lung injury which is ultimately going to kill patients with covid19. Gerry are the drugs out there in development they can do that . So antivirals . Theres recent studies on an anti malaria thats showing potent activity against his virus in particular generic drug manufacturers are ramping up President Trump mentioned that at the White House Briefing yesterday. Theres also other antivirals in addition to chloroquine that will be work as itself. For those that target the immune system and prevent that from causing injury on the lungs has a number of Companies Working on that. This is more focused on the severe patient population, patients who have already been infected with the virus border facing the lung consequence. Gerry and your company what if your company is developing some promising therapies in that area . So we are doing our part we are advancing a therapy thats focus on one particular emily logical target. Preventing acute lung injury in patients or covid19 positive but not forgetting the name of the virus itself sars covey two sars stands for the virus is named after that which causes not ultimately thats whats placing people in icu and hospitals. Thats where we are focus. I think many other companies are focused on vaccines is through direct antivirals. Gerry we got to take a very quick break coming up next we will talk for further about what other measures we may have to take to stop the spread of this disease. Stay with us. I wonder how the firm is doing without its fearless leader. Sure you want to leave that all behind . Yeah. Stay restless, with the rx, crafted by lexus. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Saving for avas college. Financial security. Being able to retire. On our terms. No matter what your goals are, our trusted advisors can help you reach them. Ameriprise financial. Our trusted advisors can help you reach them. Can we go get some ice cream . Alright, we gotta stop here first. From smarter atms, to after hours video tellers comcast business is connecting thousands of banks to technology that turns everyday transactions into extraordinary experiences. Hi there. How are you . Do you have any lollipops in there . laughing no, sorry. Were helping all kinds of businesses go beyond customer expectations. How can we help you . Gerry i am back with roivant scientists vivek ramaswamy. Much of the focus is on government response in terms of the suppression measures that are taken all over the country, in terms of trying to get equipment that is needed, masks, ventilators can you talk a little bit about the private sectors role here is a huge amount of biomedicine technology. Tell us where where that leaves us, and whether or not that gives us some hope here. From the private sector we may be able to see the kind of response that is needed to tackle this. So i think it does. I will point into different categories versus the category the diagnostics itself. Ultimately the tests that are being rolled out are actually coming out because of the activities of private labs that was impeded in the early days in part because of trying to develop that test, essentially at cdc but is now taking leisa private labs across the country. I think more importantly coming forward is the realm of therapeutics for private companies, privately Held Companies across the country come across the world are really stepping up in a rising to the occasion to develop innovative therapies. I think we have tremendous capabilities to discover new drugs. We have robust Capital Markets that fund the development of those drugs. One thing we do need to fix, is the incentives for the developers of drugs for Infectious Diseases. In contrast to developing cancer drugs, where we have a robust system that rewards those who really innovate in the field of oncology, we dont have that system in place for Infectious Diseases. In fact, we have perverse incentives where for example taking makers and antibiotics. We had two makers of ant about ask last year that went bankrupt in the United States. Those were Companies Developing two of the most innovative antibiotics. The problem is the better your therapy is, in certain cages for Infectious Diseases the more its reserved for later last line therapy. That means the better your drug, the less of a cell, for example in the field of antibiotics. Those the kind of incentives we need to take to work at fixing so the great capacity we have in our private sector can innovate that we actually put the right incentives and place to direct that in sense pungent incentives to treat these disease threats or Cyber Security threats, we should really be looking at the possibility of Infectious Disease threats the same way. This meant a lot of focus on the test questioned testing. In china it was in january, in february its becoming a more serious issue. The availability of test now is in cribbing rapidly, nursing test come available. But it seems to take a long time. Were we late to the game here attesting . So i think we were late to the game. I dont think this is about placing blame but learning lessons on how each of perform in the future. Lets just take a little bit of a retrospective look at what happened. First come the cdc said they wanted to play the sole position in developing a test rather than making samples available to the private sector. Second the fda stepped in early february said all tests that were developed by labs seem to be validated uses centralized seizure specific to covid19. They did a good job saying theyre going to streamline path for those companies. But like many regulatory actions the best of them tensions have unintended consequences because many private lab took those announcements of the sign that he could be too burdensome for them to develop test. By the time the fda change course and lifted that by the end february, is a bit too late for testing to had the greatest possible impact that it would, even though many private labs have stepped up to the plate and are rolling out test as fast as we can. Gerry could you explain why testing is so important now . Testing is still important now because ultimately it informs the care of patients a show about hospitals. Ideally, we would be in a position to test everyone. A sip to medications, symptomatic patients and severe patients. We are still short on tests. Think the doctors around the system are likely prioritizing the more severe patients are sent to medications but whys that important . Is he gonna stop the spread . Maybe i think the time for that is passed. At least its going to inform the right care for these patients. For distinguishing covid19 from the cause of the same symptoms. See for the Government Strategy so far has been mitigation enough suppression. In the hope or expectation we can keep the number of cases down this is every year so we will have a vaccine. How realistic is the vexed intent expectation we could have an vexing and less than a year . I think we need to be measured about that expectation. It is admirable what companies are stepping up to the plate to do. These are vaccines we are charting uncharted territory here. There has not been a successful vaccine or other disease in the past and so we should be hopeful but also guarded and not relying on that solution has been look at nearterm solutions to mitigate the impact of the virus. Gerry we got to take warmer quick break and after the you work hard for your money. Stretched days for it. Juggled life for it. Took charge for it. So care for it. Look after it. Invest with the expertise of j. P. Morgan, either with an advisor or online, through chase. After all, its yours. Chase. Make more of whats yours. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Wthats why xfinity hasu made taking your internetself. And tv with you a breeze. Really . Yup. You can transfer your Service Online in about a minute. You can do that . Yeah. 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Everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohlercertified installer. And its made by kohler americas leading plumbing brand. We need this bath. Yes. Yes you do. A kohler walkin bath provides independence with peace of mind. Gerry i am back with biotech entrepreneur vivek ramaswamy. The president has said, a lot of people said we are of in a wartime situation. Wars change countries dramatically, radically they change how people relate to each other and the government, the role of government. They change the politics and society. How do you think this is going to change this country . Look, i am an optimist. I think this crisis actually provides us an occasion to rediscover our shared sense of american solidarity. If thats a silver lighting in all this, i think its one we should be grateful for. I will say that in times of crisis he might face the temptations we have in our past to surrender to what calls for authoritarianism is impaired we seen it during the past or the Great Depression heard some americans calling for learning lessons from the efficiency of knotty german germany. Today were we are hearing whispers of the same thing. I think today, in this particular moment in the covert epidemic, to provide an occasion to remember that authoritarianism is may have contributed to turning that initial local epidemic into a Global Pandemic through the suppression of physicians, the ordering of the physician deceased Testing Industry samples. Emil china has reported a decline in new cases using their autocratic methods, i think thats and also an opportunity for americans a step up and show that even in the liberal democracy we too can conquer this virus. Having an occasion for us to member all americans male or female, black or white, republican or democrat for that matter, share an equal vulnerability to this virus and really a reminder forcibly all truly share something in common here. Gerry and do you, just on that point i want to elaborate on that this is been a very divided country. We are on partisan lines, people as you say identifying themselves increasingly in the last 20 years on their race, their, their sexual orientation, is it really possible . I remember 911, came along and they said the same thing about 911 the country was united for about a year after words and they were back to squabbling again. Is it likely to change . I think it is at least in the near term and i to help me take over the long run. The 20 years since 911 without a great job of celebrating our differences and sometimes quibbling over them. Think this is the occasion to remember our commonality. I will tell you couple stories. I was talking to my wife last night she is a ear nose throat doctor she is three weeks into maternity leave. She told me last night as an ear nose throat doctor, shes going back to the hospital in the next couple of days. I was uncertain about that decision but she told me the fireman does not run from the fire when the building is burning. And i would say that doctors like her across the country are our true american heroes right now. Even our own company, i have been on the phone aroundtheclock with our Development Team trying to advance therapeutics working with regulators. Think employees at our company and the employees it fda are true american heroes. Now course, we all will assist in trade wishes crisis would not have occurred bird if you want to take something productive from it lets take it is a reminder for something we have in common and it can remind us what true here was him and all about. As a side 911, take this as an opportunity to discover something that might have been missing over the last couple of decades since. Gerry thank you very much indeed thank you to your wife, congratulations to you both. Thank you much indeed are joining us. Just ahead, i will talk a little more how the coronavirus will change america and perhaps what it wont change. I will explain next. You met on an app. Delete it. Why . Hes the one. Gesundheit. [sneezes] i see something else. A star. With three points. Youre in a. Mercedes. Yeah, we wish. Wish granted. With four models starting under 37 thousand, there could be a mercedesbenz in your very near future at the spring event. Lease the a 220 sedan for just 349 a month with credit toward your first months payment at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases. Wash your hands. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Stay home when you are sick. Cover your cough or sneeze. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects with household cleaning spray. For more information, visit cdc. Gov covid19. This message brought to you by the National Association of broadcasters and this station. Of broadcasters today, john got dressed first date with sarah. John told his stitch fix stylist evan that tonight was a big deal. So his stylist did the hard work for him. Browsing hundreds of styles and sizes to find the perfect fitting shirt and blazer. So that tonight john could feel totally himself. At stitch fix we dont just see your size or your style. We see you. Let us find your perfect fit at stitchfix. Com. Gerry the United States has faced profound challenges throughout its history. Most recently, we can probably all remember both the initial paralyzing horror that we felt on that day in septembe september 11, 2001. But also the invigorating spirit of National Purpose that immediately followed. Unfathomable grief gave way to admiration and acts of compassion by emergency workers, firefighters and police. Fear of what might come next ceded to fears pride is learned of the heroism of those who fought back on flight 93. Shame and shock that the coat country could be set or punched with box cutters dissolved into a grim determination to bring the perpetrators to justice and to write this despicable wrong. We are now in the first phase of this trauma. And it is deeper and it is more destructive. We know these challenges will change this country in fundamental ways. But what doesnt change is the nations capacity to unite against the common photo. To mobilize resources to take them down and show compassion for those in great need, to innovate, to find ways to tackle the complex array of threats we confront using american ingenuity. And these are highly unusual and troubling times. Therell be moments in the next weeks with the task seems unbearable. But we should remember that america has done it before, and has always emerged stronger. While thats it for us this week, for the latest show be sure to follow me and twitter, facebook an instagram. Next micco be talking with michael strained the economist about the impact of the coronavirus plus what he thanks populism is a threat to the american dream. Thats right here on the wall street journal at large. Thank you for joining us and please stay healthy. Jack welcome to barrons roundtable we get behind the head lines to pair you for the week ahead. Coming up, one of the best steps the government can take to provide an economic slowdown from becoming an economic collapse . First we begin but we think are the three most important things the investors should be thinking about right now. The markets hammered as coronavirus shuts down businesses across the country. Global stocks hit bottom . Interest rate cuts, corporate billets, checks americans, what is the government doing to keep the governmen america float . Pharmaceuticals in overdrive tr