Developing a cold vaccine has long been dismissed as implausible because colds are caused by many different viruses, each of which is highly susceptible to mutations. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Is there any limit to what Amazon can do? The company had its work cut out for it when the tech giant announced it was entering the health care space, but apparently reforming the drug supply chain and how care is delivered just wasn't enough. The company's latest ambition? Working on a vaccine to prevent the common cold.
The news, reported Friday by CNBC, is understandably overshadowed by coronavirus, a disease that researchers are scrambling to develop a vaccine for.
However, a cold vaccine is nothing to sneeze at –– it would solve a problem that a 2003 study estimated costs the U.S. economy an estimated $40 billion a year. That amounts to $56 billion in 2020 dollars.
Developing a cold vaccine has long been dismissed as implausible because colds are caused by many different viruses, each of which is highly susceptible to mutations. The most common source of colds is the rhinovirus, of which there are 160 known strains. Even if somebody develops an effective vaccine against one strain of the virus, it may not prevent a large enough percentage of colds to be attractive to medical providers or consumers.
And because most people recover from colds in a few days, they're not likely to opt for a medication that has serious side effects. Insurers may also not be eager to pay for it. Without a guaranteed customer base, a cold vaccine is a very risky investment for pharmaceutical companies and venture capitalists.
It therefore makes sense that Amazon, which has seemingly limitless access to capital, would be the one to go for it.
The secret project is dubbed Project Gesundheit and includes more than 100 people, according to CNBC. The company will not acknowledge its existence but CNBC cited three sources with knowledge of the project.
Meanwhile, researchers at Stanford have been working for some time on another cure for the cold. They hope the cold can be prevented by disabling a single protein in our cells.
In a study published in September, the Stanford researchers said they had found a "way to stop a broad range of enteroviruses, including rhinoviruses, from replicating inside human cells in culture, as well as in mice."
"Our grandmas have always been asking us, 'If you're so smart, why haven't you come up with a cure for the common cold?'" Jan Carette, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology who is leading the Stanford research. "Now we have a new way to do that."
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