WEBVTT 00:15.758 --> 00:17.600 - Hey, good afternoon everybody. 00:17.600 --> 00:20.850 Thanks for coming to our press briefing 00:20.850 --> 00:23.880 on the army support to vaccine development. 00:23.880 --> 00:25.700 My name is Colonel Kathy Turner. 00:25.700 --> 00:28.080 I'm the Director of the Army Media Relations Division, 00:28.080 --> 00:30.990 and I will moderate today's session. 00:30.990 --> 00:34.180 The following senior leaders are on today's panel. 00:34.180 --> 00:36.430 We have Brigadier General Mike Talley, 00:36.430 --> 00:38.950 Commanding General of U.S. Army Medical Research 00:38.950 --> 00:41.810 and Development Command in Fort Detrick. 00:41.810 --> 00:44.250 We have Colonel Wendy Sammons-Jackson, 00:44.250 --> 00:47.930 Director of Military Infectious Disease Research Program, 00:47.930 --> 00:51.040 U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. 00:51.040 --> 00:53.670 We have Dr. Nelson Michael, Director of 00:53.670 --> 00:56.130 the Center for Infectious Disease Research, 00:56.130 --> 00:58.850 Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 00:58.850 --> 01:02.760 and we have Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, Director of Emerging 01:02.760 --> 01:06.860 Infectious Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. 01:06.860 --> 01:09.380 Today's discussion is on the record. 01:09.380 --> 01:11.730 After Brigadier General Talley's opening remarks, 01:11.730 --> 01:14.270 I ask that you limit yourself to one question 01:14.270 --> 01:17.880 and one follow-up until we have gotten around the room, 01:17.880 --> 01:19.550 and then we'll continue to field questions 01:19.550 --> 01:20.930 until we are out of time. 01:20.930 --> 01:23.280 We have about 30 minutes today, 01:23.280 --> 01:26.128 and with that I'll turn it over to you sir. 01:26.128 --> 01:28.270 - Hey, good afternoon, and thank you 01:28.270 --> 01:31.430 for participating in today's briefing. 01:31.430 --> 01:34.010 Our hearts go out to those that are affected 01:34.010 --> 01:37.660 or know someone who's affected by this disease. 01:37.660 --> 01:39.700 You know, emerging infectious diseases 01:39.700 --> 01:43.610 like this Coronavirus that we're facing now, or COVID-19, 01:43.610 --> 01:47.440 are why a global network of military infectious disease 01:47.440 --> 01:50.730 surveillance laboratories exist around the world. 01:50.730 --> 01:53.990 Military Medical Research is a force multiplier 01:53.990 --> 01:57.260 designed to support the service member and the public, 01:57.260 --> 01:59.840 in every conceivable circumstance, 01:59.840 --> 02:03.400 through both emerging science and technological advances. 02:03.400 --> 02:05.370 The United States Army Medical Research 02:05.370 --> 02:07.270 and Development Command is on the forefront 02:07.270 --> 02:10.190 of delivering medical capabilities faster, 02:10.190 --> 02:12.740 and more efficiently than ever before. 02:12.740 --> 02:15.810 We are supporting a whole of government approach 02:15.810 --> 02:19.370 to detect, prevent, and treat COVID-19, 02:19.370 --> 02:21.930 and when it comes to infectious disease threats, 02:21.930 --> 02:24.730 we have extensive capabilities and an international 02:24.730 --> 02:27.430 research infrastructure already in place 02:27.430 --> 02:29.930 that allows our scientists to anticipate 02:29.930 --> 02:31.720 and develop countermeasures against 02:31.720 --> 02:33.523 emerging infectious diseases. 02:34.660 --> 02:39.227 COVID-19 is the infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, 02:39.227 --> 02:42.350 and this is familiar territory for our team. 02:42.350 --> 02:45.950 Our labs have previously studied SARS and MERS, 02:45.950 --> 02:47.690 both of which are coronaviruses. 02:47.690 --> 02:49.580 They're in that same family. 02:49.580 --> 02:51.370 Our researchers and scientists 02:51.370 --> 02:54.230 at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research 02:54.230 --> 02:57.410 conducted the first in-human phase one trials 02:57.410 --> 02:59.400 of the MERS vaccine. 02:59.400 --> 03:01.333 That's the only MERS countermeasure, 03:02.920 --> 03:05.300 and only the third Coronavirus vaccine 03:05.300 --> 03:06.883 ever tested in humans. 03:07.810 --> 03:11.420 We're building upon the science for COVID-19 solutions, 03:11.420 --> 03:12.573 as we speak right now. 03:13.740 --> 03:16.890 Just this week, we were able to develop new versions 03:16.890 --> 03:20.620 of COVID-19 candidate, one of the first candidates 03:20.620 --> 03:24.080 that we tried, and we initiated research to determine 03:24.080 --> 03:26.670 if there is a response to the vaccine. 03:26.670 --> 03:29.870 Again, this is just one piece of the solution. 03:29.870 --> 03:31.980 There's other vaccine candidates being developed 03:31.980 --> 03:34.440 by other organizations, but we're all 03:34.440 --> 03:37.640 working toward a solution, and we want to get it done 03:37.640 --> 03:39.800 as quickly as possible, and we're doing this 03:39.800 --> 03:41.450 in a whole of government fashion, 03:41.450 --> 03:43.300 and certainly a whole of DOD fashion. 03:44.190 --> 03:46.600 In addition to vaccine prevention, 03:46.600 --> 03:49.170 we are also exploring treatments. 03:49.170 --> 03:51.900 Efforts are ongoing right now to identify 03:51.900 --> 03:55.970 new drug candidates to respond to the COVID-19 infection. 03:55.970 --> 03:59.090 A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement 03:59.090 --> 04:01.910 with an industry partner is under review for the DOD 04:01.910 --> 04:04.130 to gain access to an anti-viral drug 04:04.130 --> 04:06.450 for treatment use in our medical centers, 04:06.450 --> 04:08.193 our military treatment facilities. 04:09.090 --> 04:12.690 So together with our United States government partners, 04:12.690 --> 04:16.260 we are progressing at very fast rates, 04:16.260 --> 04:20.160 revolutionary rates almost, constant effort, 04:20.160 --> 04:22.740 and this is in order to deliver effective treatment 04:22.740 --> 04:24.230 and prevention products, 04:24.230 --> 04:26.610 products that'll protect the citizens of the world, 04:26.610 --> 04:29.130 and preserve the readiness and lethality 04:29.130 --> 04:31.273 of our DOD's service members. 04:32.220 --> 04:34.130 I want to thank you in advance, 04:34.130 --> 04:37.622 but I'd also like to tell you a little bit 04:37.622 --> 04:39.770 about my teammates here. 04:39.770 --> 04:44.710 So, Colonel Dr. Wendy Sammons-Jackson, is the Director 04:44.710 --> 04:47.950 for our Military Infectious Disease portfolio. 04:47.950 --> 04:52.610 She dual hats as the Joint Program Committee Director 04:52.610 --> 04:53.560 for the entire DOD. 04:54.490 --> 04:57.580 So, when you're looking at the capabilities and capacity 04:57.580 --> 05:01.090 within the Medical Research and Development Command, 05:01.090 --> 05:05.100 the demand signal is coming from all over the Joint Forces. 05:05.100 --> 05:09.060 She's managed that portfolio for the last two years, 05:09.060 --> 05:11.720 and when you talk about some of the 05:11.720 --> 05:14.770 most recent accomplishments with MERS, with Zika, 05:16.645 --> 05:19.683 she has been involved in all of those things. 05:20.670 --> 05:25.670 Dr. Nelson Michael, about 37 years of experience. 05:25.710 --> 05:30.160 Same thing, we talk about some of our latest successes 05:30.160 --> 05:34.130 with MERS, both he and Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad 05:34.130 --> 05:36.240 have been right at the forefront. 05:36.240 --> 05:38.820 And even with Zika, very proud to say 05:38.820 --> 05:43.820 that within nine months, this is the team that that was able 05:43.820 --> 05:47.823 to start the first in-human clinical trials. 05:48.900 --> 05:51.383 In just last December of '19, 05:56.385 --> 06:01.385 the Ebola Zaire version vaccine was given full FDA approval. 06:02.630 --> 06:06.460 These two gentlemen played a big part of that. 06:06.460 --> 06:11.460 Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad again, having been the scientist 06:12.130 --> 06:15.830 behind a patented adjuvant that's designed for 06:15.830 --> 06:18.880 this same family of diseases. 06:18.880 --> 06:22.280 It's an adjuvants that's being used right now, 06:22.280 --> 06:25.940 being shared with our whole of government partners. 06:25.940 --> 06:28.880 He just recently returned from Switzerland. 06:28.880 --> 06:32.110 We were lucky enough to be able to recruit him 06:32.110 --> 06:33.940 from the World Health Organization, 06:33.940 --> 06:37.550 and he's been back for about a week from Switzerland. 06:37.550 --> 06:39.770 So when you look at certainly the scientists 06:39.770 --> 06:42.573 that we recruit and train within the DOD, 06:44.100 --> 06:45.710 they are well integrated 06:45.710 --> 06:48.460 with some of the top scientists in the country, 06:48.460 --> 06:51.100 and so we're very proud to take part in this effort, 06:51.100 --> 06:52.837 and we look forward to your questions. 06:52.837 --> 06:53.670 - Okay, Lolita. 06:53.670 --> 06:56.813 - I'm Lolita Baldor, with the Associated Press, 06:58.460 --> 07:01.840 for whoever this most applies. 07:01.840 --> 07:04.850 Just on the vaccine, can you talk a little bit 07:04.850 --> 07:06.560 just more detail about the vaccine, 07:06.560 --> 07:09.160 your work that's being worked on, 07:09.160 --> 07:12.620 is it different than NIH's approach, 07:12.620 --> 07:16.970 and how soon are you to, for like a phase one trial, 07:16.970 --> 07:19.060 and then I'll just throw the follow-up out, 07:19.060 --> 07:20.993 just in case that's easier. 07:22.470 --> 07:26.640 The rapid diagnostic that is being worked on, 07:26.640 --> 07:28.050 can you talk a little bit about that, 07:28.050 --> 07:31.270 and sort of where you are in the rapid diagnostic tool, 07:31.270 --> 07:36.270 and how soon that might also be available for for testing? 07:39.750 --> 07:42.000 - Let me just take the first two questions quickly, 07:42.000 --> 07:44.400 and give you over to Dr. Modjarrad, 07:44.400 --> 07:45.950 who can talk about some more 07:45.950 --> 07:47.913 granular aspects of this vaccine. 07:49.160 --> 07:52.010 First thing I want you all to know, 07:52.010 --> 07:54.040 is that we have been around 07:54.040 --> 07:57.160 the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research for 127 years. 07:57.160 --> 07:59.810 I mean, a lot of people like to ask, 07:59.810 --> 08:01.970 well, why is the army involved in vaccine development? 08:01.970 --> 08:04.460 We've been doing this for an extremely long period of time. 08:04.460 --> 08:07.390 Walter Reed obviously made his notoriety 08:07.390 --> 08:09.320 on figuring out countermeasures to yellow fever, 08:09.320 --> 08:12.090 so we've been doing this for extremely long times, one. 08:12.090 --> 08:14.020 Two, is that we work very closely 08:14.020 --> 08:15.610 in the Inter-Agency Space. 08:15.610 --> 08:17.670 My first right here in the army, 08:17.670 --> 08:21.160 recently retired, is Bob Redfield, as the CDC Director. 08:21.160 --> 08:23.510 My second right here is Debbie Birx, now obviously 08:23.510 --> 08:26.420 the Global AIDS Coordinator, and running the covert response 08:26.420 --> 08:29.860 under the Vice President, and Dr. Fauci is close enough 08:29.860 --> 08:32.390 to him, that he retired me about 18 months ago. 08:32.390 --> 08:35.870 So we work very, very closely in the Inter-Agency Space, 08:35.870 --> 08:38.820 and the vaccine, and I'll let Dr. Modjarrad talk about, 08:38.820 --> 08:43.130 we work with Dr. Fauci's team to find a space 08:43.130 --> 08:45.480 where we could find a vaccine candidate, 08:45.480 --> 08:47.880 that was scientifically not duplicative, 08:47.880 --> 08:50.380 but mutually supportive of what others were doing, 08:51.270 --> 08:54.330 but also made sense, and so we ended up moving on 08:54.330 --> 08:56.620 two different vaccine platforms 08:56.620 --> 08:59.880 in coordination with Dr. Fauci and his team. 08:59.880 --> 09:02.240 Let me let Dr. Modjarrad tell you a little bit more 09:02.240 --> 09:06.510 about that, and what are our rough timelines could be. 09:06.510 --> 09:08.030 - Thanks for your question. 09:08.030 --> 09:11.640 So, from the first day that the sequences 09:11.640 --> 09:14.070 of the new virus were published, 09:14.070 --> 09:16.460 we were working on this vaccine, 09:16.460 --> 09:18.550 and we were doing so in coordination 09:18.550 --> 09:22.330 with our inter-agency partners at the NIH, 09:22.330 --> 09:24.420 specifically the Vaccine Research Center, 09:24.420 --> 09:27.840 where the President was visiting just a couple of days ago. 09:27.840 --> 09:30.320 and which is the place that I came from, 09:30.320 --> 09:32.410 where I trained under Dr. John Mascola 09:32.410 --> 09:34.470 and Dr. Barney Graham there, 09:34.470 --> 09:36.810 and have been in constant communication, 09:36.810 --> 09:39.370 very much like we did for the Zika vaccine, 09:39.370 --> 09:42.130 where the NIH and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research 09:42.130 --> 09:45.240 had two complementary approaches 09:45.240 --> 09:48.340 towards a vaccine candidate for Zika. 09:48.340 --> 09:51.500 Here again, we're taking a platform 09:51.500 --> 09:55.720 that actually has been used in clinical trials so far, 09:55.720 --> 09:59.710 for influenza, a different respiratory virus, 09:59.710 --> 10:04.710 and focusing on a component of the virus 10:05.010 --> 10:06.830 that a lot of groups are working on, 10:06.830 --> 10:10.400 but with a unique platform, and a unique, 10:10.400 --> 10:15.140 what's called adjuvant, which is a chemical 10:15.140 --> 10:19.130 that is used in combination with vaccines, all the time 10:19.130 --> 10:21.610 to enhance their immune response. 10:21.610 --> 10:26.200 and that adjuvant is actually patented by the army. 10:26.200 --> 10:30.260 So, we see this as a unique and complementary approach 10:30.260 --> 10:34.970 that is non-duplicative, that is being coordinated 10:34.970 --> 10:38.010 as part of the whole of government in response. 10:38.010 --> 10:38.970 - I know you asked a question 10:38.970 --> 10:41.273 about the point of care testing. 10:43.870 --> 10:45.880 I think we have the world's leading expert 10:45.880 --> 10:47.300 in infectious disease diagnostics, 10:47.300 --> 10:49.530 that just happens to be in the army at the 10:49.530 --> 10:52.790 Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Dr. Sheila Peel. 10:52.790 --> 10:55.900 Sheila, like me, really has been working on HIV 10:55.900 --> 10:58.350 almost her whole professional career, 10:58.350 --> 11:01.170 and there isn't a single HIV rapid test 11:01.170 --> 11:02.540 that's out in the market that hasn't 11:02.540 --> 11:04.570 at some level, passed through her hands. 11:04.570 --> 11:08.830 So, she's really our lead for looking at the diagnostics, 11:08.830 --> 11:11.400 that are currently being used, a test that would allow us 11:11.400 --> 11:12.930 to understand whether or not someone's infected, 11:12.930 --> 11:16.120 or has been exposed, and I can tell you that for now, 11:16.120 --> 11:19.330 most of those tests are based on detecting the virus itself. 11:19.330 --> 11:23.490 So developing the kind of test, like a pregnancy test 11:23.490 --> 11:25.860 that you might be familiar with, 11:25.860 --> 11:27.600 is requiring a different kind of technology. 11:27.600 --> 11:30.693 Sheila is already having those kinds of discussions. 11:31.550 --> 11:33.270 I think what you're gonna probably see 11:33.270 --> 11:36.300 is much more sophisticated, and higher throughput tests, 11:36.300 --> 11:37.270 that initially will be done 11:37.270 --> 11:39.350 in more sophisticated laboratories, 11:39.350 --> 11:41.450 and then as time goes on, that technology 11:41.450 --> 11:44.020 will then roll out to establish platforms 11:44.020 --> 11:46.920 to allow these tests to be used more at the point of care. 11:48.490 --> 11:50.340 - I mean, do you have a sense on when 11:51.460 --> 11:53.880 you'll have it ready to roll out? 11:53.880 --> 11:56.350 Do you have a sense of any timing on that? 11:56.350 --> 11:58.900 Do you have a sense on whether this vaccine, 11:58.900 --> 12:01.280 when that would be, or have you started testing in animals, 12:01.280 --> 12:03.800 or have you, the phase one trial. 12:03.800 --> 12:05.270 Do you have timing? 12:05.270 --> 12:08.080 - So, as far as the diagnostics are concerned, 12:08.080 --> 12:11.640 there are large and very competent commercial concerns 12:11.640 --> 12:14.890 that are looking literally in the next month or two, 12:14.890 --> 12:17.290 to be able to convert the current assays 12:17.290 --> 12:21.460 that are really relatively slow to execute, 12:21.460 --> 12:24.410 and can only do a small number of samples at a time. 12:24.410 --> 12:26.860 So, being able to do these on very robust machines 12:26.860 --> 12:30.237 that could execute up to 800 tests per eight hours, 12:30.237 --> 12:31.500 the standard work shift. 12:31.500 --> 12:33.880 So, those are the kinds of approaches 12:33.880 --> 12:37.250 that the industry has already done. 12:37.250 --> 12:38.870 I mean, we do HIV testing, 12:38.870 --> 12:41.850 we do almost a million HIV tests a year 12:41.850 --> 12:44.080 at our at our laboratory up in Silver Spring, 12:44.080 --> 12:45.470 and we use those kinds of instruments. 12:45.470 --> 12:47.480 So they can be adapted for those 12:47.480 --> 12:49.780 kinds of other technologies. 12:49.780 --> 12:52.030 Let me let like Dr. Modjarrad talk about 12:52.030 --> 12:53.870 where we are in terms of stages 12:53.870 --> 12:55.250 of development preclinically, 12:55.250 --> 12:57.780 then into the clinic for a vaccine. 12:57.780 --> 13:00.170 - So if we think about vaccine development 13:00.170 --> 13:01.300 at different stages. 13:01.300 --> 13:04.360 The first stages, the design and the discovery, 13:04.360 --> 13:06.560 to decide what is gonna be your candidate. 13:06.560 --> 13:09.640 We've completed that, and we have 13:09.640 --> 13:12.040 gone into small animals, mice. 13:12.040 --> 13:15.770 So, we're looking at what the response is 13:15.770 --> 13:19.660 to that vaccine in mice, and then as far as a timeline 13:19.660 --> 13:21.250 to getting into humans, 13:21.250 --> 13:23.980 I wouldn't want to speculate too much on that. 13:23.980 --> 13:26.200 I think the important thing to consider also 13:26.200 --> 13:30.063 is that going beyond a phase one study, 13:30.910 --> 13:34.630 there's the second phase which is oftentimes 13:34.630 --> 13:37.420 looking at a larger population at the safety 13:37.420 --> 13:40.180 and the immune response, but also then transitioning 13:40.180 --> 13:44.180 to see if it's effective in populations. 13:44.180 --> 13:46.280 What I think the field is trying to do, 13:46.280 --> 13:48.450 is position itself as a whole, 13:48.450 --> 13:51.900 so that if there's a second wave during the next season 13:51.900 --> 13:54.740 in the winter, that those candidates 13:54.740 --> 13:57.940 have made it through phase one studies, 13:57.940 --> 14:01.860 to be ready to look at the effectiveness 14:01.860 --> 14:04.500 during the next season. 14:04.500 --> 14:05.890 - Okay, so let's go to Caitlin, 14:05.890 --> 14:07.490 then we'll come over to Tara, Caitlin. 14:07.490 --> 14:10.570 - It's a question/request. 14:10.570 --> 14:13.410 With describing like the vaccines, 14:13.410 --> 14:16.870 can you be a little bit more broken down 14:16.870 --> 14:18.660 in terms of language, about what you're talking about, 14:18.660 --> 14:20.400 'cause you're talking about candidates which, 14:20.400 --> 14:21.410 what does that mean? 14:21.410 --> 14:24.130 What does it mean for vaccine platforms? 14:24.130 --> 14:27.290 Just so that when people, so that we can communicate best 14:27.290 --> 14:29.620 about what you're kind of really talking about. 14:29.620 --> 14:30.690 - Yes, thank you. 14:30.690 --> 14:33.920 So, think of this as the virus, my fist. 14:33.920 --> 14:37.650 It's a sphere, right, and it's got little spokes 14:37.650 --> 14:38.483 coming off of it. 14:38.483 --> 14:41.570 That makes it the corona when you look at it 14:41.570 --> 14:44.920 on cross-section, it's got that crown look to it. 14:44.920 --> 14:47.910 So, almost all the vaccine candidates out there 14:47.910 --> 14:50.030 are focused on that little spoke, 14:50.030 --> 14:52.660 what we call the spike, the spike protein, 14:52.660 --> 14:55.840 and there are different parts of the spike 14:55.840 --> 14:59.770 that mediate the attachment of the virus, 14:59.770 --> 15:03.410 and the entry of the virus into our cells, in our lungs. 15:03.410 --> 15:05.710 So, if you block that attachment, 15:05.710 --> 15:08.460 if you give a vaccine that trains and educates 15:08.460 --> 15:11.080 your immune response, your immune system, 15:11.080 --> 15:14.180 to recognize that part of the virus, 15:14.180 --> 15:17.500 that attaches to your cells and blocks it, 15:17.500 --> 15:19.270 that's gonna be a good vaccine. 15:19.270 --> 15:21.420 So, that's why everybody's focused on that. 15:23.002 --> 15:24.220 So, what's a candidate then? 15:24.220 --> 15:27.180 A candidate means that you're looking at options. 15:27.180 --> 15:28.013 You got your different options, 15:28.013 --> 15:30.220 those are your different candidates, 15:30.220 --> 15:33.260 and you look in mice or other animals. 15:33.260 --> 15:35.537 Other people looking at other animals as well, 15:35.537 --> 15:39.573 as our scientists are doing within our command, 15:41.430 --> 15:46.430 to see which of those options looks best in small animals, 15:47.210 --> 15:50.110 and then large animals before you go into humans. 15:50.110 --> 15:51.753 As far as the platform. 15:52.800 --> 15:56.070 So, you have that little piece of the virus 15:56.070 --> 15:57.140 that is gonna be the part 15:57.140 --> 15:59.970 that educates your immune response, 15:59.970 --> 16:02.870 but you need to deliver it in something to the body. 16:02.870 --> 16:05.060 You need to get it expressed in your body, 16:05.060 --> 16:07.750 and there are different ways to do that. 16:07.750 --> 16:11.683 You can have it on a nanoparticle, basically, 16:11.683 --> 16:13.860 it's something, another sphere 16:13.860 --> 16:16.000 that kinda looks like the virus. 16:16.000 --> 16:19.560 You can have it in DNA, which is part of 16:19.560 --> 16:22.610 the same kind of DNA, but it goes into our body, 16:22.610 --> 16:24.760 and our cells express that. 16:24.760 --> 16:27.330 The Moderna vaccine that you've probably heard about, 16:27.330 --> 16:30.180 in collaboration with NIH, it's mRNA, 16:30.180 --> 16:32.910 it's a different kind of thing like DNA. 16:32.910 --> 16:36.700 That's the platform parts, the part that expresses 16:36.700 --> 16:40.620 that candidate that we're trying to find out 16:40.620 --> 16:44.395 how good it is in different animals, of the health. 16:44.395 --> 16:45.574 - Thank you for asking that question. 16:45.574 --> 16:47.597 Okay, we're gonna go to Tara, 16:47.597 --> 16:50.020 and then we'll head back over to Phil. 16:50.020 --> 16:50.853 - I'll say thank you too. 16:50.853 --> 16:52.450 I was about to ask something kinda related. 16:52.450 --> 16:57.450 But tied to that, could you talk a little bit about 16:57.780 --> 17:01.490 what your scientists are actually doing in the labs? 17:01.490 --> 17:03.650 Are they working with test tubes? 17:03.650 --> 17:06.500 Did they actually get samples of coronavirus 17:06.500 --> 17:08.310 from someone who was infected? 17:08.310 --> 17:10.153 How did they do this? 17:11.860 --> 17:15.010 - Happy to, so our scientists 17:15.010 --> 17:17.450 are doing a number of things right now. 17:17.450 --> 17:19.699 There has been receipt of the virus 17:19.699 --> 17:24.170 in one of our laboratories, and they're currently culturing, 17:24.170 --> 17:27.980 growing that virus, so that we can have stocks available, 17:27.980 --> 17:30.483 for a number of things to test products with. 17:31.470 --> 17:34.500 They're also doing characterization of the virus, 17:34.500 --> 17:37.710 to try to understand, learn more what we know 17:37.710 --> 17:42.710 about the virus, and how the virus impacts the host, 17:43.190 --> 17:45.470 and our immune response to that virus. 17:45.470 --> 17:48.380 The scientists in our other support laboratories are, 17:48.380 --> 17:52.680 yes, test tubes, pipettes, they're dealing with mice, 17:52.680 --> 17:55.240 they're running cell cultures, 17:55.240 --> 17:57.050 and I can let the scientists here, 17:57.050 --> 17:58.790 that are doing the hands on work talk 17:58.790 --> 18:01.000 a little bit (laughing) more about that, as well. 18:01.000 --> 18:03.140 - One description, in the laboratory 18:03.140 --> 18:06.740 that received the samples that Colonel Sammons-Jackson 18:06.740 --> 18:08.640 was talking about, is the U.S. Army 18:08.640 --> 18:11.330 Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases 18:11.330 --> 18:14.777 at Fort Detrick, but if you think of the movie "Outbreak," 18:14.777 --> 18:16.750 and the suits that they wore, 18:16.750 --> 18:18.760 and the highly contagious environment, 18:18.760 --> 18:21.670 without all of the drama of the movie, certainly, 18:21.670 --> 18:24.520 but that capability certainly exists 18:24.520 --> 18:29.440 within military medicine, and that particular laboratory 18:29.440 --> 18:33.770 is the DOD's only biosafety level 4 laboratory. 18:33.770 --> 18:35.470 So, that type of work, 18:35.470 --> 18:37.430 and we're not there yet with coronavirus, 18:37.430 --> 18:40.400 where we would actually bring it into 18:40.400 --> 18:42.730 containment facilities, or laboratory suites 18:42.730 --> 18:45.240 to test it at higher levels. 18:45.240 --> 18:47.470 We've mentioned, small animals, that would be 18:47.470 --> 18:51.990 in advancement to a larger specimen perhaps. 18:51.990 --> 18:54.780 Not there yet, but that's what the laboratory work 18:54.780 --> 18:57.470 looks like, and I think we're actually conducting that 18:57.470 --> 19:00.130 to some degree now in BSL-3 conditions, 19:00.130 --> 19:03.050 biosafety level 2 conditions, 19:03.050 --> 19:05.750 but that's to get a picture of what that looks like 19:05.750 --> 19:09.610 at low scale levels, In-Vitro under microscopes, 19:09.610 --> 19:12.120 to all the way to where we would actually 19:12.120 --> 19:14.480 begin advanced types of testing there. 19:14.480 --> 19:17.450 That's where we're skating through, if you will. 19:17.450 --> 19:20.900 So, MRDC is for Medical Research Development Command 19:20.900 --> 19:22.560 is really fortunate because we have 19:22.560 --> 19:24.550 a very unique national asset, 19:24.550 --> 19:27.050 as the general mentioned, in our Institute 19:27.050 --> 19:31.730 for biosafety level 3, which is the current virus, 19:31.730 --> 19:34.560 is required to be handled within, 19:34.560 --> 19:36.890 as well as biosafety level 4, 19:36.890 --> 19:39.040 and so those scientists, a critical asset, 19:39.040 --> 19:40.760 and those scientists are actively working 19:40.760 --> 19:44.200 to investigate the virus as well. 19:44.200 --> 19:46.420 In addition, we also have 19:46.420 --> 19:48.250 the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 19:48.250 --> 19:49.890 with our two scientists over here, 19:49.890 --> 19:53.230 who are working in biosafety level 2, 19:53.230 --> 19:57.350 and doing the discovery, the small animal work, 19:57.350 --> 20:00.510 and have some of the most brilliant minds in the world 20:00.510 --> 20:02.690 working in infectious disease research, 20:02.690 --> 20:07.400 and so within that, we have a very robust 20:07.400 --> 20:10.720 science and technology platform. 20:10.720 --> 20:14.360 In addition, we also have the capabilities 20:14.360 --> 20:19.360 to take products from the science, from the prototype level, 20:20.100 --> 20:23.840 and moving into advanced development, 20:23.840 --> 20:26.090 which is required in order for us to move them 20:26.090 --> 20:28.910 into manufacturing and commercialization. 20:28.910 --> 20:32.410 So, within MRDC as a whole, we have sort of 20:32.410 --> 20:35.470 the entire pipeline for developing products. 20:35.470 --> 20:36.760 - And just super quick follow-up. 20:36.760 --> 20:40.489 Where did the sample come from, the coronavirus sample 20:40.489 --> 20:41.410 you're currently working on? 20:41.410 --> 20:43.100 - The CBC. 20:43.100 --> 20:44.570 - Okay, but there's no geographic area 20:44.570 --> 20:48.053 that can be identified of where the infection was? 20:49.199 --> 20:50.349 Did it come from China? 20:52.120 --> 20:53.330 - It came from a U.S. patient. 20:53.330 --> 20:54.510 - Yeah, I think it was Washington state. 20:54.510 --> 20:57.880 But yeah, it's domestic. 20:57.880 --> 20:59.860 - Okay, so let someone get some more questions in, 20:59.860 --> 21:01.330 so let's go to Phil. 21:01.330 --> 21:04.270 So just to clarify, real quick on the rapid diagnostic 21:04.270 --> 21:05.850 that Lolita asked about. 21:05.850 --> 21:07.830 What, first of all, you said, 21:07.830 --> 21:09.630 I thought it was clear, you said it'd be about a month 21:09.630 --> 21:11.010 or two months before you think 21:11.010 --> 21:13.007 such a diagnostic would exist. 21:13.007 --> 21:16.560 - No, no, I was saying that industry right now 21:16.560 --> 21:19.320 is taking, their very robust platforms 21:19.320 --> 21:21.450 they have been using for a long time to do 21:21.450 --> 21:23.550 high throughput screening for other infectious diseases, 21:23.550 --> 21:26.500 and are adapting those for testing 21:26.500 --> 21:28.693 for the SARS coronavirus 2. 21:30.320 --> 21:32.910 The point of care tests, if they're going to be 21:32.910 --> 21:35.620 actually detecting the virus itself, 21:35.620 --> 21:38.100 I mean, that's a lot trickier to actually take 21:38.100 --> 21:41.230 that kind of technology, and then make it really small. 21:41.230 --> 21:44.380 So, I will tell you that we ourselves, 21:44.380 --> 21:46.700 are not involved directly in those efforts. 21:46.700 --> 21:49.720 We're becoming aware of those that are, 21:49.720 --> 21:54.660 because historically, we've made so many kinds of 21:56.620 --> 21:58.700 research projects, along with industry, 21:58.700 --> 22:00.220 to advance point of care tests, 22:00.220 --> 22:02.610 and largely for infections like HIV, 22:02.610 --> 22:04.320 because we're heavily involved 22:04.320 --> 22:07.050 in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, 22:07.050 --> 22:09.580 which obviously you know, the point of care, 22:09.580 --> 22:11.980 there are places that are resource-constrained 22:11.980 --> 22:14.370 in Africa largely, and so you really need those 22:14.370 --> 22:18.300 kinds of robust tests that require very, very little skill. 22:18.300 --> 22:21.430 I could probably teach my cat to use one. 22:21.430 --> 22:22.870 That's the sort of test you want 22:22.870 --> 22:24.476 to be able to use in the field, 22:24.476 --> 22:26.790 and it's the same mindset we use is in the military 22:26.790 --> 22:29.020 to be able to have those in rucksacks, right. 22:29.020 --> 22:33.170 So that technology, I don't want to leave you the impression 22:33.170 --> 22:35.820 that, that's gonna be available anytime soon. 22:35.820 --> 22:37.310 Clearly, what we're focused on 22:37.310 --> 22:39.530 is the more complex laboratories, 22:39.530 --> 22:42.920 so that we don't have state and local 22:42.920 --> 22:45.210 departments of public health that are simply overwhelmed 22:45.210 --> 22:47.348 with individuals that want to get tested. 22:47.348 --> 22:50.340 So, in those situations, where the patients are coming 22:50.340 --> 22:52.320 to a central place there, having the high 22:52.320 --> 22:54.970 throughput test makes sense, if now you're talking about 22:54.970 --> 22:57.220 distributing people that want to go detect 22:57.220 --> 23:00.000 in less dense populations, that's where the rapid or 23:00.000 --> 23:01.900 point of care tests will be important. 23:03.350 --> 23:05.620 - Are you preparing yourselves for the possibility 23:05.620 --> 23:08.640 that the military is gonna have to test military patients? 23:08.640 --> 23:10.720 I mean, it's a very large community, 23:10.720 --> 23:12.740 and when you think about all the people around the world, 23:12.740 --> 23:14.630 it's unlikely that the civilian capacity 23:14.630 --> 23:17.285 would necessarily be there as fast as what they need it. 23:17.285 --> 23:18.473 - [Wendy] Absolutely. 23:18.473 --> 23:19.530 - What does that look like? 23:19.530 --> 23:20.850 I mean, like right now my understanding is 23:20.850 --> 23:22.850 there's only a small number of kits 23:22.850 --> 23:24.660 that have been distributed to a very specialized, 23:24.660 --> 23:26.320 about a dozen or so labs. 23:26.320 --> 23:28.050 So, what does that look like, 23:28.050 --> 23:31.050 when you're talking about getting ready for testing 23:31.050 --> 23:32.800 over a million people maybe, potentially, 23:32.800 --> 23:34.430 in the US military? 23:34.430 --> 23:36.900 So, the goal, and there's multiple approaches. 23:36.900 --> 23:39.180 - So, the goal is just increased capacity, 23:39.180 --> 23:43.180 and as Dr. Michael mentioned, one way to do that 23:43.180 --> 23:45.990 is to develop these high throughput assays, 23:45.990 --> 23:49.140 and place them in regional, critically strategic 23:49.140 --> 23:51.800 regional areas so that we can increase 23:51.800 --> 23:54.100 the throughput of the diagnosis. 23:54.100 --> 23:56.680 Another approach, as was mentioned before, 23:56.680 --> 23:59.960 with the point of care, is actually reaching further out 23:59.960 --> 24:02.370 into the environment to be able to test, 24:02.370 --> 24:06.700 and rapidly, as an initial screen for folks 24:06.700 --> 24:09.430 to kind of help understand what the epidemiology is. 24:09.430 --> 24:12.230 So, there's multiple approaches within the army, 24:12.230 --> 24:16.030 across the DOD, and across the U.S. Government as well. 24:16.030 --> 24:18.620 Certainly critical, and each one of those approaches 24:18.620 --> 24:23.270 is our industry partners, to be able to take a product, 24:23.270 --> 24:25.270 and develop it, and commercialize it. 24:25.270 --> 24:28.330 So, we are working with a number of partners, 24:28.330 --> 24:30.840 and providing the support within the laboratories 24:30.840 --> 24:32.472 to help develop those capabilities. 24:32.472 --> 24:33.580 - [Kathy] Okay, let's go to Lucas, 24:33.580 --> 24:35.210 and then I'll hit Courtney in back. 24:35.210 --> 24:36.770 - Lucas Tomlinson, Fox News. 24:36.770 --> 24:39.540 In your modeling, how many U.S. military service members 24:39.540 --> 24:42.283 do you think are gonna contract the coronavirus? 24:45.400 --> 24:46.863 - That'd be speculative sir. 24:48.270 --> 24:52.090 I don't think we have done any estimates on that. 24:52.090 --> 24:53.270 It would depend on the spread, 24:53.270 --> 24:55.190 certainly the way it's progressing now, 24:55.190 --> 24:56.967 but right now, no data. 24:56.967 --> 25:01.410 - Well I mean, we're I think, the General's 100% right. 25:01.410 --> 25:03.999 We don't have any data right now, 25:03.999 --> 25:06.080 but where we're beginning to work with partners 25:06.080 --> 25:08.610 that Dr. Modjarrad can get a little bit more into that. 25:08.610 --> 25:10.290 There are lots of people now 25:10.290 --> 25:12.140 that have gotten pretty sophisticated 25:12.990 --> 25:15.493 by trying to model infectious disease outbreaks. 25:16.690 --> 25:18.596 You know, regrettably, because one seems to come 25:18.596 --> 25:21.096 every year or so, we're getting very good at this. 25:22.670 --> 25:24.930 The problem with the models, it's only as good 25:24.930 --> 25:27.780 as the data you have that would build into it, right. 25:27.780 --> 25:30.560 So, I would just say that we're beginning 25:30.560 --> 25:34.040 to set ourselves up with really good modeling groups, 25:34.040 --> 25:36.230 to be able to ask questions in areas of the world 25:36.230 --> 25:39.450 where it's the virus is already spreading very quickly, 25:39.450 --> 25:41.820 and we have good epidemiology data 25:41.820 --> 25:43.720 that would allow us to inform those models. 25:43.720 --> 25:45.690 That's gonna give us some prediction, 25:45.690 --> 25:47.410 but I can tell you during the Ebola outbreak, 25:47.410 --> 25:51.180 I literally sat in a WHO meeting, and had one modeler 25:51.180 --> 25:54.270 talk about when the epidemic in Liberia was going to peak, 25:54.270 --> 25:56.240 and essentially, I looked at the numbers, 25:56.240 --> 25:58.000 I said you're basically saying, 25:58.000 --> 25:59.210 that it's only gonna peak 25:59.210 --> 26:02.130 when every single human being in Liberia is infected, 26:02.130 --> 26:03.370 and he basically just shrugged. 26:03.370 --> 26:06.030 So, you just need to be careful that these models sometimes 26:06.030 --> 26:09.190 can really look bombastic, and they're only as good 26:09.190 --> 26:11.485 as the data that initially goes into them. 26:11.485 --> 26:14.000 - But one thing I can say is that the current assay, 26:14.000 --> 26:16.960 which is a test, I think the throughput 26:16.960 --> 26:20.810 is around 60 patients every eight hours. 26:20.810 --> 26:22.630 So, when we're looking at volumes, 26:22.630 --> 26:26.130 or what we are trying to develop in the area of detection, 26:26.130 --> 26:31.130 our goal is anywhere from 275 to 500 every eight hours. 26:31.310 --> 26:34.200 So, if we can increase the throughput for this, 26:34.200 --> 26:37.850 you're talking about a large number that would be affected. 26:37.850 --> 26:39.810 Take the military for example, 26:39.810 --> 26:42.620 we're certainly developing things in case 26:42.620 --> 26:45.610 that were to happen, that goes for any population. 26:45.610 --> 26:47.430 - Okay, so I wanna go. 26:47.430 --> 26:49.957 - I was gonna say something. - Go ahead. 26:49.957 --> 26:54.320 - I would just add, so I think General Talley is correct 26:54.320 --> 26:58.590 in that any kind of numbers, specifically numbers 26:58.590 --> 27:00.310 you throw out there is speculative. 27:00.310 --> 27:05.100 However, we have epidemiologists at our Institute, 27:05.100 --> 27:10.100 working with modelers who do this all the time, 27:10.830 --> 27:14.210 in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, DTRA, 27:14.210 --> 27:17.340 who provide responses to the requests 27:17.340 --> 27:20.440 of all the different geographic combatant commands, 27:20.440 --> 27:23.170 and we have been working with them for the past few weeks, 27:23.170 --> 27:24.680 initially based on assumptions, 27:24.680 --> 27:28.570 but now, more importantly, on real life data. 27:28.570 --> 27:33.010 So we're trying to refine those models better, 27:33.010 --> 27:35.170 based on the data that we feed into them. 27:35.170 --> 27:36.940 So, this is something that we're working on, 27:36.940 --> 27:41.003 but I wouldn't speculate and give you specific numbers. 27:41.840 --> 27:43.750 - What is the earliest that a vaccine would be ready 27:43.750 --> 27:46.023 for a U.S. military service member? 27:48.380 --> 27:51.980 - So, again, it depends on what you're talking about 27:51.980 --> 27:53.950 in terms of ready. 27:53.950 --> 27:58.950 So, as I said, when we go into phase one clinical trials 28:00.860 --> 28:03.430 that we have done in the past, 28:03.430 --> 28:05.470 the volunteers who are involved in those trials 28:05.470 --> 28:10.470 are a mix of civilian and active duty populations, 28:10.810 --> 28:14.163 and then as you go further on, 28:15.000 --> 28:17.780 there is in discussions with our partners, 28:17.780 --> 28:19.470 and our military treatment facilities, 28:19.470 --> 28:23.110 the potential to have them involved in clinical trials. 28:23.110 --> 28:25.950 As far as licensure, whether you're talking about 28:25.950 --> 28:28.933 emergency use authorization, or full licensure, 28:31.161 --> 28:32.990 if you talk about vaccines in general, 28:32.990 --> 28:37.340 I think Dr. Fauci's remarks that he's stated 28:37.340 --> 28:40.700 over and over again, are really the benchmark 28:40.700 --> 28:42.600 that we should use as the most accurate, 28:42.600 --> 28:45.260 as being the earliest, earliest, earliest, 28:45.260 --> 28:48.210 probably 12 to 18 months to get something 28:48.210 --> 28:50.440 out to the population, and that would be 28:50.440 --> 28:52.690 whether it'd be civilian or military population. 28:52.690 --> 28:54.700 - And just recognize that part of that hesitation, 28:54.700 --> 28:56.740 I mean, the science can go very quickly, 28:56.740 --> 29:01.320 but you at first don't want to do harm, right. 29:01.320 --> 29:04.480 Obviously, there are vaccines that can cause harm, 29:04.480 --> 29:06.900 and they provide benefits, so that mixture is something 29:06.900 --> 29:08.250 you always have to look at, 29:09.676 --> 29:12.030 so part of the hesitation to say, 29:12.030 --> 29:13.760 oh, we can get a vaccine quickly is, 29:13.760 --> 29:15.910 you need to make sure that it's really safe. 29:15.910 --> 29:18.120 If you test the vaccine in 1000 people, 29:18.120 --> 29:19.770 but one in 10,000 people is gonna have 29:19.770 --> 29:21.130 something terrible that happens, 29:21.130 --> 29:22.700 until you get to those numbers, 29:22.700 --> 29:24.880 you may end up doing mass vaccination campaigns, 29:24.880 --> 29:26.240 with a vaccine that could cause 29:26.240 --> 29:27.790 a significant amount of problems. 29:27.790 --> 29:30.880 So, this needs to be a constant reassessment of the risk, 29:30.880 --> 29:31.743 and the benefit. 29:32.780 --> 29:33.613 The other thing I would tell you, 29:33.613 --> 29:35.550 and this is sort of a really good benchmark, 29:35.550 --> 29:38.200 we were the first people that tested the vaccine, 29:38.200 --> 29:43.200 that eventually got licensed by Merck, for Ebola, okay. 29:44.220 --> 29:45.570 That vaccine was first tested 29:45.570 --> 29:48.150 by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. 29:48.150 --> 29:51.350 Five years later, it was approved by the U.S. FDA. 29:51.350 --> 29:54.620 In the meantime, half a million souls 29:54.620 --> 29:57.370 were vaccinated, that largely in Africa during, 29:57.370 --> 29:58.550 especially during the outbreak 29:58.550 --> 30:00.270 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 30:00.270 --> 30:03.605 So, you know, again, that was a risk/benefit assessment. 30:03.605 --> 30:06.780 The leadership in the DRC said, okay, 30:06.780 --> 30:09.868 we know it's not approved yet by European Medicines, 30:09.868 --> 30:14.820 or by the U.S. FDA, but we have a terrible outbreak of Ebola 30:14.820 --> 30:17.190 which is highly fatal, and so decisions were made 30:17.190 --> 30:20.500 to use that under emergency use authorizations, 30:20.500 --> 30:23.340 and so, there's always that kind of debate, 30:23.340 --> 30:26.540 but just, I think that's a good benchmark for vaccines. 30:26.540 --> 30:28.700 Let me also say that we haven't really 30:28.700 --> 30:29.690 talked much about this, 30:29.690 --> 30:32.523 we are beginning to make other countermeasures. 30:33.430 --> 30:35.260 One of those are monoclonal antibodies. 30:35.260 --> 30:38.600 So, antibodies are a part of our immune response, 30:38.600 --> 30:42.640 it's part of the way the body tries to push infections back, 30:42.640 --> 30:45.800 but we can actually make these in test tubes, 30:45.800 --> 30:48.860 and these are becoming a much more common tool 30:48.860 --> 30:51.350 that are being used, especially in the fields of oncology, 30:51.350 --> 30:53.340 but increasingly in infectious disease. 30:53.340 --> 30:56.890 So, instead of actually waiting for a vaccine to be made, 30:56.890 --> 30:58.910 giving you that vaccine and waiting the time it takes 30:58.910 --> 31:02.060 for it to develop the immune response, 31:02.060 --> 31:03.410 with these kinds of reagents, 31:03.410 --> 31:05.310 you can give almost immediate protection. 31:05.310 --> 31:07.977 So, we're literally in the process now 31:07.977 --> 31:11.140 of beginning to take those first baby steps, 31:11.140 --> 31:14.950 as well as looking at that we talked about one drug, 31:14.950 --> 31:16.440 the General talked about that one drug 31:16.440 --> 31:18.770 that's currently being repurposed, 31:18.770 --> 31:20.300 and has been looked at for Ebola, 31:20.300 --> 31:22.810 and now it's being looked at for for CoV-2, 31:22.810 --> 31:24.680 but there are other small molecules 31:24.680 --> 31:27.750 that could be discovered, and one capability 31:27.750 --> 31:31.690 that we have at our institute is every malaria drug 31:31.690 --> 31:33.350 that's ever been discovered, has at some level 31:33.350 --> 31:35.610 have gone through the Walter Reed Army's data research. 31:35.610 --> 31:38.270 So, we have a really good Drug Discovery Program, 31:38.270 --> 31:40.670 And so we're looking for other kinds of drugs 31:40.670 --> 31:42.260 that might be lead candidates, 31:42.260 --> 31:46.010 in partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, 31:46.010 --> 31:47.410 that we could bring those to bear. 31:47.410 --> 31:52.410 So, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and small molecules, 31:52.920 --> 31:55.210 drugs that could be brought to bear. 31:55.210 --> 31:59.230 So, we don't have one theme in play, 31:59.230 --> 32:01.250 we have actually a number of themes in play, 32:01.250 --> 32:03.600 and all these are being coordinated very closely 32:03.600 --> 32:06.050 with our partners, either in government, 32:06.050 --> 32:08.280 or in academia, or in industry. 32:08.280 --> 32:09.113 - Thank you sir. 32:09.113 --> 32:11.140 I know I want to try to get a little bit more 32:11.140 --> 32:14.207 questions out there, so Courtney we'll go to you. 32:14.207 --> 32:15.260 - Courtney Kube with NBC. 32:15.260 --> 32:17.080 I want to ask a couple of clarifications. 32:17.080 --> 32:18.830 So, when you're saying that there's testing 32:18.830 --> 32:21.140 going on in mice, Dr. Modjarrad, you mean, 32:21.140 --> 32:22.670 you're not saying that they're being injected 32:22.670 --> 32:24.340 with the coronavirus and that, right? 32:24.340 --> 32:26.200 Okay, I just wanted to be sure that. 32:26.200 --> 32:30.023 - Just injected with the vaccine candidates, those options, 32:34.584 --> 32:36.690 to see how it responds to the vaccine, not the virus. 32:36.690 --> 32:39.117 - Okay, good, I just wanted to be sure that. 32:39.117 --> 32:42.130 Then I was a little unclear Dr. Michael, 32:42.130 --> 32:44.920 when you were talking about potentially 32:44.920 --> 32:48.500 rolling something out the next season, 32:48.500 --> 32:50.180 which I would assume would be fall, winter, 32:50.180 --> 32:51.840 or maybe it was you Dr. Modjarrad, forgive me, 32:51.840 --> 32:53.610 of the next season, but I don't quite understand 32:53.610 --> 32:54.960 what that was you were hoping of rolling out. 32:54.960 --> 32:57.360 - So, that's a really important question too. 32:57.360 --> 32:59.000 Was there a third? 32:59.000 --> 33:00.310 The third one which is about the production-- 33:00.310 --> 33:01.143 - [Kathy] Let's keep it at two, keep it to two. 33:01.143 --> 33:02.610 - I think you kind of answered the other one, 33:02.610 --> 33:03.910 so if you could do those, that'd be great. 33:03.910 --> 33:06.080 - So, this is a respiratory virus, 33:06.080 --> 33:07.089 and they always give us trouble, 33:07.089 --> 33:10.690 during cold weather, for obvious reasons. 33:10.690 --> 33:13.223 We're all inside, and windows are closed, etc. 33:14.454 --> 33:17.360 So, we typically call that the influenza or the flu season. 33:17.360 --> 33:19.620 Our expectations of this virus, 33:19.620 --> 33:21.140 like every respiratory virus, is gonna be 33:21.140 --> 33:24.160 less troublesome for us, as the weather warms up, 33:24.160 --> 33:26.160 and that's gonna be true across the globe. 33:26.160 --> 33:28.700 But, our experience, and most of our experience 33:28.700 --> 33:29.990 comes from influenza, right, 33:29.990 --> 33:32.700 which is sort of unfortunately 33:32.700 --> 33:34.450 the king of respiratory viruses, 33:34.450 --> 33:36.127 but we but we know a lot about that, 33:36.127 --> 33:39.530 and our experience there is that every flu season 33:39.530 --> 33:42.460 equals when the weather gets cold again, 33:42.460 --> 33:44.510 this is when these viruses tend to come back. 33:44.510 --> 33:47.900 So, this is why it's really important to understand 33:47.900 --> 33:49.110 that a lot of what we're doing now 33:49.110 --> 33:51.730 is really getting ourselves ready for what we're calling 33:51.730 --> 33:53.700 the second wave of this. 33:53.700 --> 33:55.410 We hope that, that doesn't happen. 33:55.410 --> 33:59.240 If you remember SARS, SARS came and went very quickly. 33:59.240 --> 34:03.370 And I really hope that happens again, 34:03.370 --> 34:05.903 but we can't count on that. 34:05.903 --> 34:07.870 We have to be ready is that 34:07.870 --> 34:10.490 even if this epidemic begins to wane, 34:10.490 --> 34:13.300 we have to be ready for next next winter, 34:13.300 --> 34:15.170 when it may come back again. 34:15.170 --> 34:16.500 - I'm sorry, I still don't understand what it was 34:16.500 --> 34:18.590 that you were hoping to roll out with the next wave. 34:18.590 --> 34:20.900 - So we're saying that as we begin to develop 34:20.900 --> 34:22.930 any of these countermeasures we're talking about, 34:22.930 --> 34:26.910 monoclonal antibodies, drugs, vaccines, 34:26.910 --> 34:29.900 that even if this disease abates 34:29.900 --> 34:32.590 over the next few months, we're very concerned 34:32.590 --> 34:36.550 that it will come back, and it may come back again, 34:36.550 --> 34:37.470 in the next flu season. 34:37.470 --> 34:39.910 If that's the case, then in the meantime, 34:39.910 --> 34:42.270 we've been working steadily on these countermeasures 34:42.270 --> 34:45.240 so that they'll be ready, if there's a next time. 34:45.240 --> 34:47.550 - Thank you, so let's hit Carla. 34:47.550 --> 34:50.440 - Thank you, I also just have a couple clarifications. 34:50.440 --> 34:53.660 So hopefully, this will go quick, but following up with her, 34:53.660 --> 34:56.730 just to reiterate, so you're testing in small animals, 34:56.730 --> 34:59.660 mice now, you're taste testing the candidate, 34:59.660 --> 35:02.850 and then you had said something about the second phase 35:02.850 --> 35:05.040 was looking at large populations of mice. 35:05.040 --> 35:08.180 Would that be, I mean large populations of mice, 35:08.180 --> 35:10.210 or would that be of something else, 35:10.210 --> 35:12.410 that you said that thinking about 35:12.410 --> 35:14.090 this next phase in the winter. 35:14.090 --> 35:16.487 I'm not quite sure what's going on. 35:16.487 --> 35:18.770 - So, I'm just gonna break it down again, 35:18.770 --> 35:21.010 in terms of what are the general phases 35:21.010 --> 35:22.563 of vaccine development. 35:23.550 --> 35:28.170 First you decide, down at the atomic level, 35:28.170 --> 35:31.880 what your vaccine is going to be, 35:31.880 --> 35:35.430 and then you have your best guess, 35:35.430 --> 35:37.480 and you have a few different options 35:37.480 --> 35:38.700 as to what that will be. 35:38.700 --> 35:42.040 Then you test all those different options in mice, 35:42.040 --> 35:44.460 meaning testing, give them the vaccine, 35:44.460 --> 35:47.910 and see what kind of immune response they have. 35:47.910 --> 35:52.910 Then, typically, you go into larger animals, like monkeys. 35:54.040 --> 35:55.653 That's typically the case. 35:58.010 --> 35:59.770 This is a new virus. 35:59.770 --> 36:03.450 We don't know which one of these animals 36:03.450 --> 36:06.640 is the most relevant one to humans. 36:06.640 --> 36:09.230 You know mice are mice, mice are not humans, right. 36:09.230 --> 36:11.563 Monkeys may be a little closer to humans, 36:12.470 --> 36:16.920 and then you go into humans, and when you go into humans 36:16.920 --> 36:19.670 in that first phase, you're just again, 36:19.670 --> 36:22.860 looking at the safety of your vaccine, 36:22.860 --> 36:24.780 and the immune response. 36:24.780 --> 36:27.960 You're not looking at if it's effective, 36:27.960 --> 36:30.163 to protect you from the virus. 36:31.160 --> 36:36.160 The next phase is where you look at larger numbers of people 36:39.190 --> 36:41.270 for safety, and immune response again, 36:41.270 --> 36:45.380 'cause the first phase in humans is just a few dozen people. 36:45.380 --> 36:48.010 Now we're talking hundreds to thousands, 36:48.010 --> 36:51.550 and you start looking at, 36:51.550 --> 36:55.210 is it protecting against infection? 36:55.210 --> 36:59.030 You need to have large numbers of infections going on 36:59.030 --> 37:01.370 to be able to know whether or not 37:01.370 --> 37:03.380 it's protecting against that. 37:03.380 --> 37:06.940 So, that's why we anticipate potentially, 37:06.940 --> 37:10.630 if there's a second wave, we gotta be ready, 37:10.630 --> 37:13.260 make it all the way through those first studies 37:13.260 --> 37:16.040 in the animals, and the safety, and immune response, 37:16.040 --> 37:18.590 so we're ready, in position, and ready to go 37:18.590 --> 37:20.830 if this comes back and there are a bunch of infections, 37:20.830 --> 37:23.476 so we can know is it protecting. 37:23.476 --> 37:24.309 - Okay, so you're planning to be of 37:24.309 --> 37:26.940 that second phase of humans by next winter, 37:26.940 --> 37:28.240 just, that's where you are? 37:28.240 --> 37:29.405 Okay, just wanted to clarify that. 37:29.405 --> 37:30.660 And then the other thing I wanted to clarify is, 37:30.660 --> 37:32.550 you said you had a candidate that was 37:32.550 --> 37:35.223 complimentary, but not duplicative. 37:36.060 --> 37:37.810 What exactly is the candidate? 37:37.810 --> 37:39.010 I know you talked about the spokes, 37:39.010 --> 37:43.250 are you too focusing on the spoke of the virus. 37:43.250 --> 37:44.083 - Yes, we are. - Yes. 37:44.083 --> 37:46.840 - But that's just what NIH is also working on. 37:46.840 --> 37:48.110 So everybody's working on the spoke 37:48.110 --> 37:49.460 right now, just different-- 37:49.460 --> 37:52.810 - Different ways, different parts of the spoke, 37:52.810 --> 37:55.950 or different versions of it, 37:55.950 --> 37:59.310 and then different ways to express it. 37:59.310 --> 38:03.620 So, as I said, there's different ways. 38:03.620 --> 38:06.870 So, there's a DNA platform we can express it, 38:06.870 --> 38:10.400 there's the mRNA that Moderna is doing with the NIH. 38:10.400 --> 38:13.430 There are just using the protein itself. 38:13.430 --> 38:17.900 There's putting it on a nanoparticle protein. 38:17.900 --> 38:20.880 So there's different versions of the vaccine, 38:20.880 --> 38:24.532 and different ways to present it to the immune system. 38:24.532 --> 38:26.870 - Okay, so right now we're at 10 after, right now. 38:26.870 --> 38:28.210 So, we'll hit Haley, and we're probably gonna 38:28.210 --> 38:29.350 wrap it up in a few minutes. 38:29.350 --> 38:30.183 So Haley, go ahead. 38:30.183 --> 38:32.680 - Thank you and thank you all for doing this. 38:32.680 --> 38:35.380 One question for you, General Talley. 38:35.380 --> 38:37.130 Last year in the fall Fort Fort Detrick, 38:37.130 --> 38:39.950 the Research Institute, had to pause testing 38:39.950 --> 38:41.780 for some safety concerns. 38:41.780 --> 38:44.680 Can you go into what has been done since then 38:44.680 --> 38:47.140 to sort of make that a non-issue? 38:47.140 --> 38:50.290 Then there's also, I know that Rare has gone over, 38:50.290 --> 38:53.090 you said different SARs, and for different strains of this. 38:53.090 --> 38:55.810 What makes this different from the previous strains 38:55.810 --> 38:56.870 that you've been looking at, 38:56.870 --> 38:59.200 and how have you kind of those noticed those differences, 38:59.200 --> 39:02.063 and how that will affect the vaccine that you're developing. 39:02.950 --> 39:05.370 - Absolutely, I appreciate the question. 39:05.370 --> 39:08.910 Yes, so the United States Army Medical Research Institute 39:08.910 --> 39:12.550 of Infectious Diseases and that's the BSL-4, 39:12.550 --> 39:15.940 Biosafety Level 4 lab that I mentioned, 39:15.940 --> 39:20.850 but on the 18th of July, of 2019, 39:20.850 --> 39:23.210 they were issued a cease and desist order 39:23.210 --> 39:28.210 by the CDC violations, because of improper practices, 39:29.890 --> 39:33.550 all resulting from a number of structural defects. 39:33.550 --> 39:37.400 They developed workarounds that just were not safe. 39:37.400 --> 39:40.873 There was never any danger of risk to the community, 39:41.730 --> 39:45.253 or breaking the containment, which is what the labs are for. 39:46.200 --> 39:51.200 Since then, proud to say, worked very hard to come back 39:51.520 --> 39:54.300 and meet CDC regulatory standards. 39:54.300 --> 39:57.730 The CDC came back for a reinspection, 39:57.730 --> 40:02.010 after about a 90 day plan of action, and milestones, 40:02.010 --> 40:04.520 very aggressively went after that. 40:04.520 --> 40:08.300 And the CDC restored the laboratory 40:08.300 --> 40:11.350 to a limited operational capability. 40:11.350 --> 40:15.980 Limited, in that the same volume that the laboratory 40:15.980 --> 40:18.735 had become accustomed to, 40:18.735 --> 40:21.757 throughputting much smaller levels, 40:21.757 --> 40:25.470 and then certain types of testing, as I mentioned, 40:25.470 --> 40:28.770 BSL-4 being the highest type biosafety laboratory 40:28.770 --> 40:31.060 for being the highest level. 40:31.060 --> 40:35.480 Not to that level, but probably a smaller level 40:35.480 --> 40:37.710 or a level just shy of that, 40:37.710 --> 40:41.340 where the most dangerous procedures weren't being done. 40:41.340 --> 40:43.700 This was this was in an effort to begin 40:43.700 --> 40:45.870 a gradual standup of capabilities 40:45.870 --> 40:47.403 after being down for so long. 40:48.550 --> 40:51.630 The CDC came back two weeks ago, 40:54.720 --> 40:57.710 actually three weeks ago now, in February, 40:57.710 --> 40:59.400 came back for a second inspection. 40:59.400 --> 41:03.070 This inspection was to allow even more capabilities, 41:03.070 --> 41:05.640 more capacity to be performed. 41:05.640 --> 41:08.730 Again, proud to say, night and day difference. 41:08.730 --> 41:13.510 According to the CDC, we were issued a letter to restore 41:13.510 --> 41:16.050 even higher level capabilities. 41:16.050 --> 41:18.863 That letter was issued to us just this past Friday. 41:20.610 --> 41:22.570 So, with respect to coronavirus, 41:22.570 --> 41:27.570 and coronavirus is not considered a safety level 41:27.836 --> 41:32.836 type of virus that falls into the same category 41:33.140 --> 41:34.880 as some of the other higher types. 41:34.880 --> 41:38.350 So, we have full authorization to perform 41:38.350 --> 41:41.300 at the highest levels of scientific capacity 41:41.300 --> 41:44.420 at the laboratory for coronavirus. 41:44.420 --> 41:48.580 Other types of diseases that might meet 41:48.580 --> 41:53.410 some of the CDC criteria, still having a gradual return 41:53.410 --> 41:57.290 to full operations, but with coronavirus, 41:57.290 --> 42:01.170 we're gonna be able to conduct laboratory research 42:01.170 --> 42:05.380 at the highest levels that the laboratory can perform. 42:05.380 --> 42:07.350 So, that's kind of where we are. 42:07.350 --> 42:10.540 Real proud, it's been a work in progress. 42:10.540 --> 42:13.563 We took advantage of the operational pause, if you will, 42:13.563 --> 42:17.560 to really refine our standard operating procedures, 42:17.560 --> 42:20.610 and frankly, the complete culture has changed 42:20.610 --> 42:22.050 at that institution. 42:22.050 --> 42:26.350 They're back, and certainly with coronavirus, 42:26.350 --> 42:30.750 it's amazing to watch the entire enterprise mobilize 42:30.750 --> 42:32.670 the way they have, thank you. 42:32.670 --> 42:33.680 - Last quick question. 42:33.680 --> 42:36.300 Okay, so she had a follow-up for SARS. 42:36.300 --> 42:39.230 - So, regarding your second question 42:39.230 --> 42:42.630 about how this virus differs from others, 42:42.630 --> 42:43.793 and what we've learned. 42:44.900 --> 42:48.210 Probably, everybody's familiar now 42:49.400 --> 42:53.890 that there are seven human coronaviruses that we know of, 42:53.890 --> 42:56.210 and that the highly pathogenic ones, 42:56.210 --> 43:01.210 the ones that tend to kill are SARS-1, 43:02.700 --> 43:05.480 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, 43:05.480 --> 43:08.580 and then the current coronavirus. 43:08.580 --> 43:13.580 So, we have been working on those other 43:13.630 --> 43:17.100 very more dangerous and deadly viruses like MERS, 43:17.100 --> 43:18.453 and the first SARS. 43:19.610 --> 43:23.630 What we've learned is really, 43:23.630 --> 43:26.680 at the very basic atomic level. 43:26.680 --> 43:30.540 When I mentioned that we first look at the atomic level 43:30.540 --> 43:33.300 of these spokes, these spikes, 43:33.300 --> 43:34.870 that's where we've been focusing on, 43:34.870 --> 43:39.870 because that's where the differences matter the most, 43:40.230 --> 43:45.110 in terms of what kind of immune response you get to it, 43:45.110 --> 43:49.543 how efficiently it attaches to the cells in your lung. 43:51.010 --> 43:54.570 One of our chief scientists, Dr. Gordon Joyce, 43:54.570 --> 43:57.150 has been doing a lot of the work on that, 43:57.150 --> 44:01.380 in determining the structures, in collaboration again 44:01.380 --> 44:04.780 with our partners at the NIH, National Institutes of Health, 44:04.780 --> 44:06.290 the Vaccine Research Center. 44:06.290 --> 44:08.600 So Dr. Joyce, myself, we both came from 44:08.600 --> 44:09.730 the Vaccine Research Center, 44:09.730 --> 44:13.340 working with Dr. Graham and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett 44:13.340 --> 44:16.270 under Dr. John Mascola, and then one of the other structures 44:16.270 --> 44:18.290 that came out is Dr. Jason McLellan 44:18.290 --> 44:20.900 at the University of Texas at Austin. 44:20.900 --> 44:22.500 This should give you an idea also, 44:22.500 --> 44:24.580 how this is a very tight-knit family. 44:24.580 --> 44:27.450 We're kind of spread across different centers, 44:27.450 --> 44:29.490 but we talk to each other all the time, 44:29.490 --> 44:31.470 because we have that very close, 44:31.470 --> 44:33.880 public health and scientific community. 44:33.880 --> 44:38.807 So, there are similarities between this virus, 44:39.930 --> 44:41.650 and some of these other viruses, 44:41.650 --> 44:45.870 but there are obviously very key differences between MERS, 44:45.870 --> 44:49.510 and this SARS CoV-2, there's about 44:49.510 --> 44:52.963 50% difference in the sequence. 44:53.900 --> 44:57.210 With SARS-1, there's about 20% difference, 44:57.210 --> 45:01.220 but that that 20% matters obviously, quite a bit, 45:01.220 --> 45:06.010 and so that's the kind of studying that we've been doing 45:06.010 --> 45:07.880 when we first got those sequences, 45:07.880 --> 45:10.720 and the world got those sequences back on January 10th. 45:10.720 --> 45:13.150 We started looking down at the atomic level 45:13.150 --> 45:15.570 as to how they differ. 45:15.570 --> 45:17.160 - So, ladies and gentlemen, I know, 45:17.160 --> 45:18.510 we've been going for a little bit, 45:18.510 --> 45:20.380 so I want to be able to wrap this up soon. 45:20.380 --> 45:22.010 We're gonna have folks standing by 45:22.010 --> 45:23.190 to do the follow-on questions. 45:23.190 --> 45:25.752 But sir, if you want to do closing remarks. 45:25.752 --> 45:27.760 - Just one last before, 45:27.760 --> 45:30.530 since there won't be a vaccine ready in time 45:30.530 --> 45:33.130 for this cycle of coronavirus, 45:33.130 --> 45:36.340 could you please give your best advice to the force, 45:36.340 --> 45:38.570 and the public in general, about how to 45:38.570 --> 45:40.503 kind of ride this out for now. 45:45.020 --> 45:48.530 - I mean, we are literally living in influenza season. 45:48.530 --> 45:52.320 People are getting infected and dying of this disease. 45:52.320 --> 45:56.100 I like to remind people that during the Ebola outbreak, 45:56.100 --> 45:57.340 both the one that just happened 45:57.340 --> 46:00.980 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in West Africa, 46:00.980 --> 46:03.940 you know, somewhere between 16,000 to 19,000 people 46:03.940 --> 46:06.130 were still dying every week of HIV infection. 46:06.130 --> 46:10.500 So, you know, the public, 46:10.500 --> 46:12.150 the medical community's governments 46:12.150 --> 46:15.330 have really gotten very good at managing 46:15.330 --> 46:18.370 how we deal with the scourges of infectious disease. 46:18.370 --> 46:20.690 So, like any respiratory virus, 46:20.690 --> 46:21.860 we're going to be getting ourselves 46:21.860 --> 46:24.550 into the habit of washing our hands much more frequently. 46:24.550 --> 46:26.640 If there's one thing that you can do, 46:26.640 --> 46:29.510 it's wash your hands much more frequently. 46:29.510 --> 46:31.347 So, I mean, we're both clinicians as well, 46:31.347 --> 46:33.040 and you go into the hospital, 46:33.040 --> 46:34.860 the nurse will wrap you on the knuckles 46:34.860 --> 46:37.060 if you don't wash your hands coming into the room, 46:37.060 --> 46:38.810 or coming out, even if you don't touch anything. 46:38.810 --> 46:40.437 So, that's critical. 46:40.437 --> 46:43.830 The things that we already know how to do, 46:43.830 --> 46:46.460 we do social distancing. 46:46.460 --> 46:48.080 We're not gonna be doing a lot of hugging and kissing. 46:48.080 --> 46:50.340 If people are sick, they should stay home. 46:50.340 --> 46:53.590 If they really are very, very ill, 46:53.590 --> 46:55.340 then they can go into the hospital. 46:56.300 --> 46:59.980 But hospitals now are getting very good about, 46:59.980 --> 47:03.110 how they would approach, making sure that they can protect 47:03.110 --> 47:05.210 their staff, as well as protecting other patients 47:05.210 --> 47:06.690 from someone who might be a risk. 47:06.690 --> 47:09.260 So, I think people should should recognize 47:09.260 --> 47:10.780 at the end of the day, this still remains 47:10.780 --> 47:15.390 a low risk infection, to not just our service members, 47:15.390 --> 47:19.800 but to the American public, and that we are really good 47:19.800 --> 47:23.170 as a hospital system, as a medical care system, 47:23.170 --> 47:26.280 from both the EMT up the intensive care units, 47:26.280 --> 47:27.860 at taking care of these. 47:27.860 --> 47:29.860 I'm not minimizing, I'm just saying that 47:29.860 --> 47:31.320 even the absence of a vaccine. 47:31.320 --> 47:33.950 We still don't have a vaccine for HIV infection, 47:33.950 --> 47:36.150 but we have very good drugs and we're beginning to develop 47:36.150 --> 47:39.182 monoclonal antibodies, so we will continue 47:39.182 --> 47:43.460 to campaign against these infectious disease threats, 47:43.460 --> 47:46.380 as we would against enemies against the homeland, 47:46.380 --> 47:49.240 and we're good at doing those sorts of things, 47:49.240 --> 47:51.540 but the American public should be reassured 47:51.540 --> 47:54.410 that this is a threat that we're used to, 47:54.410 --> 47:56.270 from the standpoint of influenza. 47:56.270 --> 47:58.070 We are working on developing measures, 47:58.070 --> 48:01.460 but everyone can assist just by washing their hands. 48:01.460 --> 48:02.443 - Yeah, totally. 48:03.290 --> 48:06.400 Well, hopefully you've been able to hear that, 48:06.400 --> 48:09.090 when you're talking to the different agencies 48:09.090 --> 48:11.390 that are out there, and you're getting different responses 48:11.390 --> 48:13.100 for what they're doing individually. 48:13.100 --> 48:16.110 This is truly a whole of government approach. 48:16.110 --> 48:19.820 So, certainly if one one agency, one organization, 48:19.820 --> 48:22.163 if it's an industry partner, if it's academia, 48:23.120 --> 48:26.100 I think we're well nested and we're sharing information, 48:26.100 --> 48:30.580 and collaborating, so that we're able to leverage 48:30.580 --> 48:33.800 the right resources to bring a vaccination, 48:33.800 --> 48:36.470 or vaccine candidate as we've learned about today, 48:36.470 --> 48:37.990 across the finish line. 48:37.990 --> 48:40.870 So, we're gonna continue to collaborate 48:40.870 --> 48:43.010 in the fashion that we have, 48:43.010 --> 48:46.210 and we're going to work as hard as we can 48:46.210 --> 48:48.280 to find the right treatments, 48:48.280 --> 48:49.960 the right preventative measures, 48:49.960 --> 48:52.900 and certainly the right detection capabilities 48:52.900 --> 48:53.733 that are out there. 48:53.733 --> 48:56.077 Those are our three focus areas within the DOD. 48:58.000 --> 49:00.290 We really appreciate your time today, 49:00.290 --> 49:03.457 and again, thank you very much. 49:03.457 --> 49:05.480 It's been a pleasure, thank you. 49:05.480 --> 49:07.110 - So everybody, thanks for coming today. 49:07.110 --> 49:09.680 So we have some folks who are gonna stand by in this room 49:09.680 --> 49:11.260 to do follow-up questions for you. 49:11.260 --> 49:15.060 Lori Salvatore from the lab is here with her team, 49:15.060 --> 49:17.210 and then we also got my team here from off the deck 49:17.210 --> 49:19.080 can help facilitate follow-on questions 49:19.080 --> 49:21.600 that we didn't get to that you want for your reports, 49:21.600 --> 49:23.140 and then I just want to thank General Talley 49:23.140 --> 49:24.930 and his team for their time today. 49:24.930 --> 49:26.157 So thanks everybody. 49:26.157 --> 49:29.150 - Thank you very much. - Appreciate it.