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.
For further details see:
The Vaccines Are Almost Ready, but the Challenges Are Only Beginning