3M Co (MMM), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO): The Hidden Opportunity of the Novel Coronavirus

Shortly after the 2003 outbreak, SARS vaccines were proven somewhat effective in animal testing (e.g., mice) in reducing the numbers of SARS-CoV particles found in the lungs. However, long-term studies of various SARS vaccines continue to show complications that aren’t worth the risk. While the future of SARS prevention might be in intranasal treatments, currently, there is no vaccine.

That’s where genetic analysis and pharmaceutical research teams need to team up to share information. Usually the pharmaceutical business is cutthroat; but a deadly virus with pandemic potential on par with nCoV could cause research teams to do something amazing and actually team up for the good of the world.

We actually saw teamwork work out marvelously last year when a new strain of swine flu infected about 300 people and killed one. Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS), teaming up with the J. Craig Venter Institute in California, used recombinant technology that allowed it to make artificial genes based on flu virus strain genomes found in an online database, and cut the time from research to vaccine to just one week. Clearly it’s going to be a bit more challenging than that creating a vaccine for nCoV, but the technology is certainly there to make it happen.

The waiting game
Now there’s nothing more we as investors and observers can do but watch and wait to see how this spans out. It’s extremely tough to tell what might happen with the nCoV because we only have 32 confirmed cases to work with. What is for certain, though, is that the panic level surrounding this new coronavirus is rising at a rapid pace and is being fueled by its high mortality rate. As investors and health-conscious observers, we have no choice but to be prepared and keep our eyes peeled for any additional information.

The article The Hidden Opportunity of the Novel Coronavirus originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool recommends 3M Co (NYSE:MMM), Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO).

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