Pfizer and BioNTech announce the start of BNT162 vaccine trial

Pfizer and BioNTech announced the start of the BNT162 clinical trials on Tuesday, boosting confidence that a potential treatment or vaccine could be around the corner. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round panel to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: Now to the status of the coronavirus outbreak here in the US and around the world. And I guess, you know, Anjalee, we're talking about it from the market's perspective. Investors are certainly looking at the next phase of this. But I think, if you look at what's happening in the biotech and the pharma space, the science is also pointing toward there being more answers or at least something resembling a few answers maybe in the months ahead.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Absolutely, and this really indicates just the waiting being over. Because as we know, once the outbreak started, the industry was racing to respond. And we weren't quite sure when results would come out. We did know we'd have some idea by around this time of what that timeline would look like, and it looks like we are getting a clearer picture.

Pfizer, today, announcing that it's entering clinical trials in the US. They did start last week on that vaccine candidate with their partner, BioNTech in Germany. But now, we've started in the US, and that really puts us in a really good position in terms of getting more clarity on the vaccine part of it. We also know last week, the news dominated was Gilead's treatment getting that emergency use approval, as well as others out there that are now sort of looking to complement or work with that same drug.

We also know that as states are looking to reopen, we've seen so much when it comes to what the rules are going to be and what states are taking what measures. And meanwhile, we've heard from companies, like Google, which are looking to open later possibly in June, and while Microsoft is looking all the way out into October. And then meanwhile, you have companies, like Starbucks, looking to reopen a majority of their US stores, but limit the interactions that customers will have with the store employee. So a lot of wheels turning right now. It seems like we really are getting back into sort of an active mode, Myles.

MYLES UDLAND: All right, Anjalee Khemlani with the latest on the coronavirus outbreak.