FT report
The CEO of pharma giant Merck says the purported timelines for a coronavirus vaccine is 'very aggressive'.
He said 12-18 months isn't something he thinks is feasible.
"It is not something I would put out there that I would want to hold Merck to," the US pharmaceutical group's boss told the Financial Times, adding that vaccines should be tested in "very large" clinical trials that take several months if not years to complete.
"You want to make sure that when you put a vaccine into millions if not billions of people, it is safe," he said.
The US is aiming to have a vaccine ready even faster than that. Phase 2 trials will be getting underway shortly with 20,000-30,000 volunteers to test at least 5 vaccine candidates as part of the Operation Warn Speed.
Trump said he hoped to have a vaccine in production "by the end of the year or shortly thereafter".
Merck has a long history of developing vaccines and refused to sign up for the 12-18 month timeframe.
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