Coronavirus vaccine not coming for at least 2 years: Novartis global CEO

A vaccine must be widely tested in humans before being administered to hundreds of millions, say experts

Any vaccine to fight the coronavirus will not be ready for use for at least two years, the chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which no longer makes vaccines itself, told a German newspaper.

Novartis sold its vaccine business in 2015 to GlaxoSmithKline, one of many companies around the world now racing to make a drug. Some companies are already testing vaccine candidates on humans.

"The results of the first clinical studies on the vaccine candidates should be available in autumn," Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). "If everything goes as we hope, it will take