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Remarks by Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Meeting with Pharmaceutical Companies
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Meeting with Pharmaceutical Companies
Issued on: March 2, 2020
Cabinet Room
3:20 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Today, we are meeting with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies — the biggest in the world, most prestigious, the ones that get down to the bottom line very quickly — to discuss how the federal government can accelerate the development of vaccines and therapeutic treatments for the coronavirus.
{snip}
Since the start of the outbreak, my administration has taken the most aggressive action in history to protect our citizens, including closing our borders very early — a lot earlier than people wanted us to do. And that turned out to be a good decision. I ordered sweeping travel restrictions, increased travel advisory levels, established screening measures, and imposed historic quarantines. We have quarantines all over the country — a lot of them.
The coronavirus shows the importance of bringing manufacturing back to America so that we are producing, at home, the medicines and equipment and everything else that we need to protect the public’s health. And I’ve been talking about this for a long time. That process has already started. It started long before we ever knew about this.
We want to make certain things at home. We want to be doing our manufacturing at home. It’s not only done in China; it’s done in many other places, including Ireland, and a lot of places make our different drugs and things that we need so badly. And it’s not good to be dealing with one or two or three countries. And we do very little at home, and we’re going to start doing it at home, and we’ve been talking about that for a long time. And a lot of the drug companies, because of what we’ve done in terms of incentives and taxes, they’re heading back here anyway.
The coronavirus shows the importance of bringing all of that manufacturing back to America, and we will have that started. It’s already started, frankly. It started about a year ago.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
The President will also be traveling tomorrow to the National Institute of Health; the CDC, before the week is out. And we will be meeting with leaders of the airline industry. We’ll be meeting with leaders of the cruise line industry. And we welcome the partnership with industry in this country as we work out the President’s top priority, which is the health and safety and wellbeing of the American people.
{snip}
{snip}
MR. BANCEL: Thank you, Mr. President, for the invitation. Stéphane Bancel. I’m the CEO of Moderna. So (inaudible) very proud to be working with the U.S. government and to have already sent, in only 42 days from the sequence of the virus, our vaccine to Dr. Fauci’s team at the NIH. We’re now waiting for the vaccine to be a green light from the FDA so that the team can start dosing as soon as possible.
What it’s very interesting about our technology is that we use messenger RNA. So, basically, it’s an information molecule that allows us to go very quickly from (inaudible) formation of a virus to having a vaccine. So, we already have nine vaccines in the clinic in the U.S., in Germany, and in Australia. We have five of those for respiratory diseases.
We’ve (inaudible) with DARPA, from Department of Defense; with BARDA, from HHS. We’re having ongoing discussions. We were able to go so fast because we are working, for many years, with the NIH and we had worked with Dr. Fauci’s team on the MERS vaccine for the Middle East respiratory syndrome, which is a coronavirus. And so we’re able to move very, very fast from a few phone calls to getting a vaccine made, ready for the clinic.
We’re now working on the phase two material, so that as soon as we get the phase one dose out of the NIH, we’ll be able to start the phase 2 right away.
THE PRESIDENT: What is your timing then? What would you say?
MR. BANCEL: So we’re hoping to get the phase one start very soon now. We’re just waiting for a green light. The product is at the NIH. And then, it will be a few months to get the human data that will allow us to pick (inaudible) dose to start the phase two right away.
THE PRESIDENT: So you’re talking over the next few months, you think you could have a vaccine.
MR. BANCEL: Correct. Correct. With phase two.
DR. FAUCI: Yeah. You won’t have a vaccine. You’ll have a vaccine to go into testing.
MR. BANCEL: Phase two, yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: And how long would that take?
MR. BANCEL: The phase two would take a few months before going to phase three.
THE PRESIDENT: All right. So you’re talking within a year —
DR. FAUCI: A year to a year and a half.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, but, Lenny is talking about two months, right? (Laughter.)
DR. SCHLEIFER: A little — a little longer. A little longer.
MR. MENICHELLA: And we would be there in June. We will be there in June if they (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: A couple of months, right? I mean, I like the sound of a couple of months better, I must be honest with you.
SECRETARY AZAR: But when you say June phase one initiation, though — right? — in June, it’s not a completed vaccine. I just want to (inaudible).
MR. MENICHELLA: Well, you have a vaccine that would be ready for testing in phase one. (Inaudible) talking about a completed —
THE PRESIDENT: Ready to use when, would you say? Ready to use. Next season?
MR. MENICHELLA: So, assuming that the vaccine is well tolerated — it’s safe and efficacious, as John said — then I think the question is, how do we work with the FDA to expedite that as fast as possible through some sort of fast-track program to get it through phase two and three testing to get to —
THE PRESIDENT: So quickly.
MR. MENICHELLA: So, as quickly as possible. Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: What do you say to that, Lenny?
DR. SCHLEIFER: Look, I sense the cautiousness of Dr. Fauci, and he’s right to be cautious. Because vaccines have to be tested because there’s precedence for vaccines to actually make diseases worse. And you really don’t want to make it — you don’t want to rush and make it — you don’t want to rush and treat a million people and find out you’re making 900,000 of them worse.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s a good idea.
DR. SCHLEIFER: Yeah. So that’s why I think Dr. Fauci is being a little bit cautious. I don’t want to speak for him, but — so we need to prove that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: No, this a very optimistic meeting. Look, I know optimism and not optimism and pess- — the worst pessimism. And I will tell you, the whole thing with therapeutics, to me, is very exciting. And, obviously, vaccine. But therapeutics is very exciting, especially when you’re so far advanced. That’s great. That’s really great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Say hello to everyone. Thank you everybody.
END
4:17 P.M. EST
Remarks by President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Meeting with Pharmaceutical Companies
Issued on: March 2, 2020
Cabinet Room
3:20 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Today, we are meeting with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies — the biggest in the world, most prestigious, the ones that get down to the bottom line very quickly — to discuss how the federal government can accelerate the development of vaccines and therapeutic treatments for the coronavirus.
{snip}
Since the start of the outbreak, my administration has taken the most aggressive action in history to protect our citizens, including closing our borders very early — a lot earlier than people wanted us to do. And that turned out to be a good decision. I ordered sweeping travel restrictions, increased travel advisory levels, established screening measures, and imposed historic quarantines. We have quarantines all over the country — a lot of them.
The coronavirus shows the importance of bringing manufacturing back to America so that we are producing, at home, the medicines and equipment and everything else that we need to protect the public’s health. And I’ve been talking about this for a long time. That process has already started. It started long before we ever knew about this.
We want to make certain things at home. We want to be doing our manufacturing at home. It’s not only done in China; it’s done in many other places, including Ireland, and a lot of places make our different drugs and things that we need so badly. And it’s not good to be dealing with one or two or three countries. And we do very little at home, and we’re going to start doing it at home, and we’ve been talking about that for a long time. And a lot of the drug companies, because of what we’ve done in terms of incentives and taxes, they’re heading back here anyway.
The coronavirus shows the importance of bringing all of that manufacturing back to America, and we will have that started. It’s already started, frankly. It started about a year ago.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
The President will also be traveling tomorrow to the National Institute of Health; the CDC, before the week is out. And we will be meeting with leaders of the airline industry. We’ll be meeting with leaders of the cruise line industry. And we welcome the partnership with industry in this country as we work out the President’s top priority, which is the health and safety and wellbeing of the American people.
{snip}
{snip}
MR. BANCEL: Thank you, Mr. President, for the invitation. Stéphane Bancel. I’m the CEO of Moderna. So (inaudible) very proud to be working with the U.S. government and to have already sent, in only 42 days from the sequence of the virus, our vaccine to Dr. Fauci’s team at the NIH. We’re now waiting for the vaccine to be a green light from the FDA so that the team can start dosing as soon as possible.
What it’s very interesting about our technology is that we use messenger RNA. So, basically, it’s an information molecule that allows us to go very quickly from (inaudible) formation of a virus to having a vaccine. So, we already have nine vaccines in the clinic in the U.S., in Germany, and in Australia. We have five of those for respiratory diseases.
We’ve (inaudible) with DARPA, from Department of Defense; with BARDA, from HHS. We’re having ongoing discussions. We were able to go so fast because we are working, for many years, with the NIH and we had worked with Dr. Fauci’s team on the MERS vaccine for the Middle East respiratory syndrome, which is a coronavirus. And so we’re able to move very, very fast from a few phone calls to getting a vaccine made, ready for the clinic.
We’re now working on the phase two material, so that as soon as we get the phase one dose out of the NIH, we’ll be able to start the phase 2 right away.
THE PRESIDENT: What is your timing then? What would you say?
MR. BANCEL: So we’re hoping to get the phase one start very soon now. We’re just waiting for a green light. The product is at the NIH. And then, it will be a few months to get the human data that will allow us to pick (inaudible) dose to start the phase two right away.
THE PRESIDENT: So you’re talking over the next few months, you think you could have a vaccine.
MR. BANCEL: Correct. Correct. With phase two.
DR. FAUCI: Yeah. You won’t have a vaccine. You’ll have a vaccine to go into testing.
MR. BANCEL: Phase two, yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: And how long would that take?
MR. BANCEL: The phase two would take a few months before going to phase three.
THE PRESIDENT: All right. So you’re talking within a year —
DR. FAUCI: A year to a year and a half.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, but, Lenny is talking about two months, right? (Laughter.)
DR. SCHLEIFER: A little — a little longer. A little longer.
MR. MENICHELLA: And we would be there in June. We will be there in June if they (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: A couple of months, right? I mean, I like the sound of a couple of months better, I must be honest with you.
SECRETARY AZAR: But when you say June phase one initiation, though — right? — in June, it’s not a completed vaccine. I just want to (inaudible).
MR. MENICHELLA: Well, you have a vaccine that would be ready for testing in phase one. (Inaudible) talking about a completed —
THE PRESIDENT: Ready to use when, would you say? Ready to use. Next season?
MR. MENICHELLA: So, assuming that the vaccine is well tolerated — it’s safe and efficacious, as John said — then I think the question is, how do we work with the FDA to expedite that as fast as possible through some sort of fast-track program to get it through phase two and three testing to get to —
THE PRESIDENT: So quickly.
MR. MENICHELLA: So, as quickly as possible. Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: What do you say to that, Lenny?
DR. SCHLEIFER: Look, I sense the cautiousness of Dr. Fauci, and he’s right to be cautious. Because vaccines have to be tested because there’s precedence for vaccines to actually make diseases worse. And you really don’t want to make it — you don’t want to rush and make it — you don’t want to rush and treat a million people and find out you’re making 900,000 of them worse.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s a good idea.
DR. SCHLEIFER: Yeah. So that’s why I think Dr. Fauci is being a little bit cautious. I don’t want to speak for him, but — so we need to prove that.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: No, this a very optimistic meeting. Look, I know optimism and not optimism and pess- — the worst pessimism. And I will tell you, the whole thing with therapeutics, to me, is very exciting. And, obviously, vaccine. But therapeutics is very exciting, especially when you’re so far advanced. That’s great. That’s really great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Say hello to everyone. Thank you everybody.
END
4:17 P.M. EST
Trump's confusion on display during meeting with pharmaceutical execs
Trump’s baffling coronavirus vaccine event
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