The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa is forcing businesses worldwide to assess the disease’s impact on their bottom lines. From makers of drugs and diagnostic tools to the travel industry, companies are confronting opportunities and threats from Ebola, and factoring the virus into their planning.
Here’s our working list of what exactly companies have to say about Ebola, gleaned from earnings calls, news reports, social media and statements. We last updated it on Nov. 10. And we’ll continue to update this information as earnings season unfolds.
Seen any statements we may have missed? Tweet them to @bbrowdie.
November
“Today, Google is launching a public giving campaign to fight Ebola. For every dollar you give, Google will donate two dollars.”
– Company statement
“The vaccine was well-tolerated thus far, but the study is ongoing.”
- NewLink CEO Charles Link
October
IBM’s new Africa research lab, in collaboration with Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, has developed a system that enables citizens to report Ebola-related issues and concerns via SMS or voice calls.
– Company statement
Tekmira is reporting it has commenced limited…manufacture of a new therapeutic specifically targeting the Ebola-Guinea variant, which is the viral variant responsible for the Ebola epidemic currently prevalent in West Africa. Supply of this new product will be available in early Dec. 2014, for potential use by various collaborators.
– Company statement
“We saw a measurable impact for, I think, one day, and then bookings have snapped back to normal.”
- American Airlines president Scott Kirby
“We have not seen any noticeable negative impact on demand from Ebola or macroeconomic news.”
– Southwest CFO Tammy Romo
“If all goes well, I fully expect GSK to be the first company in a position to make a vaccine available to health agencies and governments, hopefully toward the end of 2014.”
- Sir Andrew Witty, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline
“We are urgently working to provide our vaccine expertise, production capabilities, our people and resources to address the Ebola crisis.”
– Alex Gorsky, CEO, Johnson & Johnson
Bavarian Nordic will scale up and is targeting to manufacture more than 1 million doses of the prophylactic vaccine in 2015 for clinical trials and emergency use in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
– Company statement
“The effect of Ebola, obviously, that affects our business in Sierra Leone, but the impact on the overall African figures is not very significant.”
– Heineken CFO Reinout Duco Hooft Graafland
“We’re providing a steady supply of necessary reagents to public health labs, here in the U.S. and globally, that are screening to positively identify Ebola in patients who show symptoms.”
– Marc Casper, CEO, ThermoFisher Scientific
Ace Limited is excluding Ebola from its coverage “on a case-by-case basis” for policyholders who “have foreign travel exposure to certain African countries.”
– Company statement
“We’re up ten-fold, if not 20-fold, from this time last year.”
– Tony Baumgartner, president, DQE, a US-based distributor of protective gear
“We understand how important it is to ensure hospitals are prepared and well-stocked.”
– Amanda Laabs, president of preventive care, Medline Industries, a US-based distributor of medical supplies
“We continue to monitor the situation closely, working with the CDC, and will continue to take any and all necessary precautionary steps as directed by CDC.”
– American Airlines spokeswoman Michelle Mohr
“We are undertaking a very aggressive cleaning and sanitizing initiative prior to guests boarding for the next voyage.”
– Carnival Cruise Lines statement
“You still need to start to factor in what that fear quotient could do.”
– Honeywell CEO David Cote
“The gravity of the impact of the Ebola outbreak and Amgen’s expertise in developing monoclonal antibodies provide a unique opportunity to assist in the efforts to manage this growing healthcare concern.”
– Amgen spokeswoman Kristen Davis
“We monitor it on a daily basis and we have not seen any changes in the booking trends.”
– Delta CEO Richard Anderson
“There’s been absolutely no impact on bookings, other than to the cities directly involved.”
– Willie Walsh, CEO of the International Airlines Group, which includes British Airways and Iberia
“At this stage, Air France is maintaining its flight schedule to and from Guinea (Conakry) and Sierra Leone (Freetown).”
– Company statement
“There are indications that demand in the east is coming off a little bit because of the perception that Ebola is Africa-wide.”
– Emirates president Tim Clark
“I would hope that we can contribute to resolving or contributing to helping in a global healthcare crisis that we are experiencing to date.”
– Roland Diggelmann, chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics
“Cepheid, with its prior bio-threat experience, is well positioned.”
– John Bishop, CEO of Cepheid
“Fujifilm Corporation today decided to start production of the anti-influenza drug Avigan Tablet 200mg in preparation for the administration to a larger number of patients with Ebola Virus Disease overseas to counter the spread of EVD.”
– Company statement
“We’re hopeful of being able to help but it’s still early days.”
– Sharon McHale, spokeswoman for CSL Limited, an Australian maker of blood products
“We have been tracking demand. It has not been massive yet. It has been spotty and we have responded by increasing production and are prepared to increase further should the demand progress.”
– Judson Booth, manufacturing director, Kimberly-Clark Health Care
“Based on in vitro data from work conducted by the CDC and the National Institutes of Health suggesting brincidofovir’s activity against Ebola, we are hopeful that brincidofovir may offer a potential treatment for Ebola Virus Disease during this outbreak.”
– Chimerix CEO M. Michelle Berrey, M.D.
“The customer who tested positive for Ebola showed no symptoms or signs of illness while on flight.”
– Frontier Airlines tweet
“The objective of BioCryst’s broad-spectrum antiviral research program is to develop broad-spectrum parenteral and oral therapeutics for viruses that pose a threat to health and national security.”
– Company statement
“Sarepta Therapeutics today announced the publication of results from two single ascending-dose studies that demonstrated no clinical or toxicologic safety concerns with the company’s drug candidates for the treatment of Ebola and Marburg virus, respectively.”
– Company statement
“Immunovaccine is working with researchers at the NIH on the planning and ramp-up of additional studies of DPX-Ebola with data from these studies expected in 2015.”
– Company statement
“NanoViricides reported that the synthesis of its anti-Ebola second generation drug candidates has started.”
– Company statement
“The research shows that it exhibits anti-Ebola virus activity in horizontal infection experiments on cells and animals.”
– Statement by China’s Sihuan Pharmaceutical, discussing its drug JK-05.
September
“In the case where a user is wearing a lab coat or gown, the under glove should be worn under the cuff of the gown and the over glove should be worn over the cuff.”
– Ansell Limited, Australian-based supplier of protective gloves, statement
“The vaccine to be used by NewLink Genetics was developed originally in Canada and has been studied extensively in non-human primates with very encouraging results.”
– Company statement
“Hemispherx Biopharma announced today a widened set of research collaborations designed to develop therapeutic cocktails against Ebola which may potentially overcome the emergence of drug resistance due to Ebola virus mutation.”
– Company statement
“Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced it will advance its DNA vaccine for Ebola into a phase I clinical trial in a collaboration with GeneOne Life Science, an international DNA vaccine manufacturer in which Inovio holds a minority interest.”
– Company statement
August
“The available supply of ZMapp has been exhausted.”
– Mapp Biopharmaceutical statement
“This current outbreak underscores the critical need for effective therapeutic agents to treat the Ebola virus.”
– Mark Murray, Ph.D., CEO of Tekmira
“Although the current situation is very serious, there continues to be very little risk to Australia and travellers on the Qantas network.’’
– Company statement
“Due to the evolving situation of the current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, contractors working on the phase 2 expansion project have declared force majeure and are moving people out of [Liberia]. We are currently assessing the potential impact on the project schedule.”
– Iron ore miner, ArcelorMittal, company statement