Trump taps ex-GSK executive, General to lead COVID-19 vaccine race

LONDON - US President Donald Trump selected a former executive of GlaxoSmithKline laboratory to lead the government’s effort to accelerate the development of vaccine for coronavirus, according to a senior administration official.

Moncef Slaoui, a former chairman of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline, will serve as the chief adviser on the vaccine effort as part of Operation Warp Speed.

General Gustave Perna, a four-star general who is in charge of the Army’s readiness as head of the Army Matériel Command, will be the chief operating officer.

The pair will lead a crash development programme ordered by Trump that aims to have a vaccine ready for wide distribution in the United States by as early as next year. 

The appointments came two weeks after Trump announced the operation to quickly speed up production and organise plans to distribute a vaccine, which experts say is still months or years away.

American-Belgian-Moroccan Slaoui led the global GSK vaccine business from 2015 to 2017 during which he had helped develop vaccines to prevent childhood rotavirus gastroenteritis, cervical cancer and shingles.

He maintains links with several pharmaceutical companies involved in the Covid-19 response, such as GlaxoSmithKline, which is working on the development of a vaccine with Sanofi.

He is serving on the board of directors of Moderna, one of the first companies to conduct clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine.

The US administration is hoping that Slaoui will bring his biomedical expertise to quickly help develop the vaccine.

The Warp Speed programme seeks to find a vaccine that could be widely distributed by the beginning of next year despite widespread skepticism that such an effort could succeed.