Coronavirus Latest: Wednesday, September 30

On Wednesday, Quest Diagnostics announced that it had a three-in-one test ready to test for both coronavirus and regular strains of flu for the winter months. This comes as a study found Moderna’s vaccine to be safe and effective for older adults and Regeneron’s coronavirus antibody cocktail had strong positive data results. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to discuss the latest on the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: All right, let's turn our attention now to everything going on with the coronavirus pandemic. Anjalee Khemlani joins us now for some exciting news, Anjalee, on the testing front. Something that I think we've, perhaps, not talked enough about as we focus on the vaccine. But then on the vaccine side, some sobering or measured commentary there for investors to take in.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's absolutely right, Myles, so let's start off with the testing. Quest Diagnostics out with a 3-in-1 test today, and that includes both of the flus and coronavirus, and that's really important. While they're not the first out the gate with this test, they do have a very large network. So this means that more people will have access to this type of test, and this really serves the purpose of having some sort of control over that double whammy that we're expecting as the months get colder. Meanwhile, we know also about Beckson Dickinson getting their rapid antigen test approved in Europe. And as we know, the Trump administration had started to deliver, or is starting to deliver, Abbott rapid antigen tests, so this is all just helping to boost the capacity that the country has right now when it comes to multiple forms of testing.

Now, going onto that vaccine news, of course, we know Moderna, one of the front runners in this race, just released some information about the dose that's being tested in late stage trials in older adults, and that's an extension of the Phase I trial earlier. And what we learned from that is what the executives have, in fact, already told us, but it's nice to see that data out in a medical journal, as we know that is sort of the gold standard right now. And it proved that the vaccine is as effective in older adults, that's over the age of 65, as it is in the younger adult age group, so that's really good to note. But we've also heard recently that while we are expecting some news out of Moderna in November, a more concrete timeline has been given, which is November 25th, and that would end a two month observation period for the first dosed individuals, and that really falls in line with kind of what other health experts are asking for these vaccine companies to follow that very strict timeline and giving more space to observe the effects of this vaccine.

MYLES UDLAND: Though, of course, we all know November 25, that is definitely after the election, and that is, of course, kind of how the market at least interpreted that news today. Certainly, that Moderna headline you were just talking about being cited by some including Jared Blikre as a potential downside catalyst here as we head towards the closing bell.