Return to Transcripts main page
First Move with Julia Chatterley
Republicans Align On Fresh Stimulus As A Further 1.4 Million Workers Ask For Government Help, The U.S. Says China Is Harboring A Fugitive Scientist In Their Consulate In San Francisco; Britain Negotiators Warn A Trade Deal Is Looking Unlikely. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired July 23, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:36]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here's your need to know.
Bailout breakthrough. Republicans align on fresh stimulus as a further 1.4 million workers ask for government help.
San Fran standoff. The U.S. says China is harboring a fugitive scientist in their consulate there.
And Brexit is back. Negotiators warn a Trade Deal is looking unlikely.
It's Thursday, let's make a move.
A warm welcome once again to all our FIRST MOVErs around the globe. Today, we are all about the science.
Coming up, the CEO of Swiss drug maker, Roche, to give us a reality check. Unfortunately, I think on the state of testing. Plus, the CEO of the Serum
Institute of India, mark the name, they say two-thirds of the world's children have received a vaccine made by them.
But before the bell today, the enormity of the economic challenge laid bare here in the United States. For the 18th week in a row, more than one
million people filing for first time benefits. It's a worse number in fact this week than expected. More than 16 million people, too, continue to get
government support. So continuing to claim benefits, and critically, we're approaching a cash cliff.
The bump up in jobless benefits runs out this month, same with things like rent protections that have saved Americans from evictions, and of course,
the small business lending program, the PPP also needs to be extended. That runs out in the first week of August. There should be no end in the kind of
support that we're talking about until there's an end to the virus, whatever it takes.
Right now, the Dow and S&P futures are softer on the back of today's disappointing data. Just a little softer, I should say.
Europe though, higher, helped along by earnings from the likes of Mercedes Benz, Unilever. In Asia, nervousness I think about U.S.-China relations
persist. Chinese stocks falling for the first time in five days.
Critical to that and on the agenda today, U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo set to address Chinese tensions in a speech in D.C. today. So, we've
got one eye on that, and of course the other on the ongoing stimulus negotiations. Critical.
Let's get to the drivers. Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, always a lot to dissect in these numbers, but even if we just look at the
headlines here, slightly worse than expected and clearly, when we're looking at the health crisis and the rising cases around the United States,
a pick-up in these jobless claims numbers -- a worry.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A worry. This is an unwanted number, but not unexpected, because we have seen the
recovery fizzle in the Sunbelt. We have seen the recovery fizzle in parts of the Northeast where there are very strict quarantines for travelers.
When you look at sort of the real time economic data. You can see that restaurant reservations are down and T.S.A. screenings are down again. So
we have seen a fizzle in a small attempt at an economic reopening and economic recovery, and so you saw more layoffs in the week.
I like to see that continuing claims like you, Julia, go down, but it is still 16 million people who are continuing to get jobless benefits.
And when we look overall at what the cash cliff as you call is going to look like, in just a matter of days, the typical unemployed worker is going
to go from a weekly check of $930.00 to $330.00. That will be a big negative impact, I think on recovery overall.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I couldn't agree more with you on that point, and as you said, the continuing claims, the people that continue to get benefits. That
number drastically underestimates the numbers that we're talking about.
Page two on this report, actually, 31.8 million people getting some form of benefit here. Compare and contrast, just a year ago, that was -- what --
1.7 million people. That's the scale that we're talking about. So eyes then on D.C. and the idea that we're looking at how we can scale back benefits
to individuals here at this moment in the crisis.
Just, you know, you and I have discussed it, it doesn't make sense to me.
ROMANS: You know, the Treasury Secretary is on another network just moments ago talking about the need for stimulus and what the plan is going
to look like and he said the plan here is for direct payments directly to Americans. The payroll tax cut that the President had been championing
looks like it's going to fall to the wayside here and getting money quickly to people is what's going to be more important.
[09:05:20]
ROMANS: But there's still a lot of work to do on the stimulus front here. I mean, you had three days of negotiations between the White House and
Senate Republicans. Now they seem to have put their flag in the sand, what they are going to look like for the trillion dollar package, with still
some more negotiating to do.
But then you've got a House version that the House Democrats put something through May 15th, months ago, where they have $3 trillion in spending and
an extension of those unemployment benefits.
So there's also a political risk here as well for some Republicans who want to make sure that they look like they're helping people who need the help
as we head into an election season and the Democrats saying, we passed something even better a long time ago.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, they were, in the case of how big is the check? Fine, we'll sign it. The Republicans have different views. What does the meat in
the middle look like here? That's the key. Christine Romans, thank you for that.
ROMANS: Nice to see you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Fresh U.S.-China tensions, the F.B.I. says a Chinese scientist with links to the country's military is hiding out in China's Consulate in
San Francisco. She is accused of visa fraud.
This comes just a day after the U.S. ordered the closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston citing spying operations.
David Culver live in Beijing with the latest. David, fascinating to watch this develop and what we've seen over the last few days in particular.
Interesting, too, from the Beijing authorities saying that the United States has to think carefully about what it's doing here. And yet, while we
see rhetoric ratcheting up from the Chinese, still no action. It looks like they're thinking carefully here about their next move.
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For months, we have seen the rhetoric and its harsh rhetoric. Tell forge, no question, Julia, but to your point, the
action hasn't necessarily lived up to that and that's something that's been noted in state media here as well.
And it seems like with the closure of the Houston Consulate that that has motivated some movement to take place, some retaliation in some form. No
details on what exactly would follow, but that's still being discussed. And they say, perhaps to your point that it's going to be a more strategic
long-term decision here.
And as we have discussed, perhaps they're looking more towards November and waiting for who they're going to be dealing with on the other side of the
election.
You've mentioned this shift from one consulate to another. Now going from Houston and looking at San Francisco and the F.B.I. investigating an
interesting case there. A woman who they say is essentially just hiding out in the Chinese Consulate. She is a Chinese national. The F.B.I. claiming
that she lied on her visa form and did not disclose essentially that she was part of the Chinese military at one point -- the People's Liberation
Army in some subset of that.
They now are obviously moving forward with charges there. But it follows two Chinese nationals being charged for allegedly hacking COVID-19 research
in the U.S. All of that, playing into the Chinese now responding. The Foreign Ministry in particular coming out and saying, essentially the U.S.
is harassing and limiting the researchers, the scholars, the students, and they're putting a warning out to those Chinese nationals within the U.S. to
be prepared for that.
Nonetheless, it doesn't seem like they're going to go beyond these tough words, as we've mentioned, and any substantive action will follow suit as
of yet -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: So now we watch the words of Secretary of State -- U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, when he speaks later from D.C. David
Culver, thank you so much for that.
Now, as I mentioned, Brexit is back, at least the discussion, Britain says it can't agree to a Trade Deal with the E.U. after the latest round of
talks. It's kicking the can down the road it seems for the next meeting in August while the E.U. complains of a lack of progress on key issues.
Richard Quest joins us now. Perhaps no surprise, we tend to take these negotiations down to the wire, Richard. But at least both sides are saying
look, talks haven't ended. We will continue this.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yes, they will. But there's a lot of bad blood between them, and a lot of accusation and
counter-accusation backwards and forwards.
They had hoped to have a deal by June. That didn't happen. They have now tried in July. That didn't happen. Highly unlikely that any talks will be
meaningful in August. The Europeans will be very resentful over that. So the date to watch out for is September. That's when the leaders have to
come back together and try and work out if enough progress has been made.
But this is the difficult part here, Julia. You're talking about a full scale trade agreement by the end of the year. Now, you cannot just cobble
this together at the last minute if there's nothing already on the table, a framework that you can finesse.
And as far as we know, at the moment, the sticking points remain: state aid, level playing field and fisheries. They cannot easily be solved.
And one other point, the U.K. is now almost certainly not going to have a full scale trade agreement with the U.S. by the end of the year. At best,
the U.S. might be able to offer up one or two little cherries, if you like, to help sweeten the failure.
[09:10:33]
CHATTERLEY: This is taking place amid a global pandemic. I just wonder Richard whether in terms of the thought process, the negotiating position.
Once again, we've got both sides looking each other and going, is the U.K. willing to see a hard Brexit during a global pandemic and at the same time
the U.K. negotiators are looking at the E.U. and some of the strongest economies like Germany for example, also struggling as a result of this and
saying, are they going to be willing to see the U.K. go through a hard Brexit with the implications that it means for E.U. economies? We've been
here before.
QUEST: Yes, but the E.U. has a much stronger hand now. Because obviously from the recovery fund that's been put together, and the E.U. is now
looking at the U.K. and saying, are these people stark raving mad?
I mean, why don't they just take an extension on the transition period to allow us to sort it through? But the U.K., for domestic political reasons,
is not going to do it. The Prime Minister has made it clear the end of the year is it. Will they play chicken until December 31st? I seriously believe
they might.
And I think it's entirely possible, bearing in mind, the U.K. is now building customs borders, which they'd have to do anyway, by the way. They
are building customs borders right the way across the southern coast. I believe it's is entirely possible the U.K. will go over the cliff.
CHATTERLEY: Really? Probability, Richard, very quickly of a hard Brexit?
QUEST: Twenty to thirty percent. Maybe 40 percent. Your number? Your number?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I'd go higher. Actually, I'd go higher. Yes.
QUEST: I was being polite.
CHATTERLEY: I know. Richard Quest, thank you for that.
All right, let's move on. Shares of Tesla rising yet again in premarket trading after the company reported its fourth straight profitable quarter.
It means the stock is now eligible to be included in the S&P 500 index.
Elon Musk also announcing plans to build a new factory near Austin, Texas. Clare Sebastian has all the details. Clare, they've done it. Big
excitement. Investors like it, but I was pouring over the details of just how they're making money here and they are quite fascinating when they're
selling tax credits to other EV makers. Talk us through the details on this one. What do you make of it?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think the question when you look at the last quarter and the fact that almost half of it was
impacted by a shutdown at their California factory, which is the main hub of production. The fact that they achieved profitability, you do want to
look at the small print of how they did it.
And part of that was these regulatory credits that Tesla gets. That was up significantly year-on-year. They admitted that that did contribute to
profitability and free cash flow, which was positive in the quarter.
But there was also a lot of talk of cost efficiency and cost cutting. How they were able to produce cars for less and their factories are getting
more efficient. So that is clearly a boon to investors. It shows that profitability is now perhaps more predictable, more sustainable, which is
something that people have been looking for from Tesla for a long time.
They also recognize $48 million, Julia, in profits from the release of a full self-driving feature. This is something that Elon Musk talked about a
lot on the call. He said this is really the most important thing going forward. They are looking ahead to perhaps having this feature ready by the
end of the year. So that would be a way to increase the value of their existing assets by doing over the air upgrades for their cars. So that is
significant.
And of course, as you say, they made news. They're going to be building a new Giga Factory in Austin, Texas. What they're doing with their profits,
Julia, is reinvesting them back into to the company's growth. This will be their biggest property, they say. It also sort of takes some of the load
off Fremont, California in terms of building the Model 3 and the Model Y, so that is clearly significant.
That means that over the next 18 months, we'll have Tesla in Austin, Tesla in Shanghai, and the new Giga Factory in Berlin. So that's a lot of new
production that they are looking at in the future.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. COVID-19 not holding Tesla back. Clare Sebastian, thank you so much for that update there.
All right, these are the stories making headlines around the world. The Mayor of Portland, Oregon was among those teargassed by Federal agents
during a tense Black Lives Matter protest on Wednesday.
Mayor Ted Wheeler compared the scene in in his city to urban warfare. U.S. President Donald Trump sent the camouflaged Federal agents to Portland to
deter what he calls unacceptable levels of violence.
[09:15:14]
CHATTERLEY: Seventy-five years after the end of World War II, a former Nazi concentration camp guard has been convicted in what could be one of
the last Holocaust trials in history. The 93-year-old man identified as Bruno D. was charged with more than 5,200 counts of accessory to murder. He
was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
This week was supposed to mark the beginning of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the games have been postponed and pushed back to July 23rd of next year
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Organizing Committee says the Tokyo Olympics will be canceled altogether if they can't be held in 2021. Wow.
All right. Coming up here on FIRST MOVE. Vaccine ventures and testing times. We'll hear from the CEOs of drug giant, Roche and the Serum
Institute of India on how to mass produce an affordable vaccine, particularly for poorer nations. That's all coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. We've got the Dow and the S&P 500 futures pulling back after the release of some disappointing jobless data
as we've mentioned.
This morning, initial claims rising some 1.4 million -- 1.4 million people claiming first time benefits last week. Those that continue to collect
benefits still remains above 16 million people, though it did come down in the week prior.
The weaker dollar has played its part as well in helping drive recent stock gains. The Dollar Index is higher today, after four straight days of
losses, but the value of the dollar has dropped some eight percent since late March. A weaker dollar makes U.S. products cheaper to buy overseas,
important for companies of course that export, too.
The dollar action also helping boost the price of precious metals like gold and silver. Silver pulling back today, but it is still up more than 15
percent.
This week, gold is approaching all-time highs. Its rally also driven by COVID-19 economic uncertainty. The diversification potential there of
precious metals.
[09:20:17]
CHATTERLEY: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has now surpassed 15 million people worldwide, almost four million cases in the United States
alone. The pandemic both helped and hurt Roche's results in the first half of 2020.
The Swiss drug giant saw robust demand for COVID testing equipment, but profits fell five percent. Sales falling some four percent in the second
quarter as the virus led to weaker demand for therapeutic drugs and other diagnostics.
The company does say that sales have recovered since June. I'm pleased to say Severin Schwan, the CEO of Roche joins us now.
Sir, fantastic to have you on the show. As I mentioned there, sort of a tale of two halves here is healthcare facilities focus on the pandemic at
the height of the crisis and you saw revenues come down, but recovery since --
SEVERIN SCHWAN, CEO, ROCHE: That is absolutely correct. Our sales have been significantly impacted in the month of May. This was at the height of
the crisis. This was when you saw a lockdown of many countries, which meant that hospitals focused only on COVID-19 patients.
As a result of that, patients couldn't go to their doctor, couldn't go to the hospital. As such treatments were delayed and routine diagnostics was
delayed.
Now what is good to see is that in the meantime, the healthcare systems have adapted. Patients are returning to the hospital and we see a recovery
as well. And as a consequence, we are now also confident that we can confirm our full-year financial guidance, which means growth for the year
overall.
CHATTERLEY: And also important for investors here, in addition to that maintained outlook, perhaps talk of raising the dividend here, too.
SCHWAN: Right. We believe that we cannot only grow the top line, but that we will deliver a profitability growth in line with sales and that gives us
the basis to again increase our dividends.
CHATTERLEY: Severin, it is good news for investors. Good news for ordinary people as well, was that the moment where you came out with one of the
earliest and the most accurate, I think diagnostic tests for COVID-19, but also antibody tests here, too.
But you did say something interesting on the earnings call and that was that we have to think about how we're going about testing because the
supplies, the manufacturing, still not there. Can you give us a sense of how you're looking at that at this moment?
SCHWAN: Currently, demand clearly outstrips the industry's production capacity, it outstrips supply. And therefore, it is so important that we
allocate the molecular tests to those patients who are most in need.
At Roche, we have increased our production capacity four times over the last four months, but it's still not enough, and infection rates are rising
in certain parts of the world, including in certain regions in the United States, so we have to be very thoughtful about the allocation of tests.
That means that tests should only be given to those people who have signs and symptoms or patients who are at risk.
And it's also very important that we all work together to get infection rates down. That's by keeping the social distance, that's by washing our
hands regularly and that's by wearing masks where appropriate.
CHATTERLEY: It is quite fascinating. A four-fold increase in your manufacturing capabilities over the past several months. Can you fast
forward in terms of manufacturing capabilities and what kind of increase, what further increase you think the company can provide?
SCHWAN: Yes, it's indeed amazing what we have accomplished over a relatively short period of time. I would never have thought that this is
possible. People are working 24/7, not taking any holidays. I'm really, really proud of what we can contribute here as an organization.
Now, we of course, keep our efforts up to further increase supply. But for the time being, it's unrealistic that the industry could meet global demand
for testing. So, it is really, really important that we allocate tests accordingly and that we all work together to bring infection rates down
again.
CHATTERLEY: I know at Roche, you're also keenly focused on data analytics and your acquisitions obviously point in that direction as well recently.
There's still many questions asked about immunity. How much immunity? What level of antibodies is required for resistance to this virus?
[09:25:19]
CHATTERLEY: Severin, what is your data even at this stage telling you based on the diagnostics and the tests that you've provided? Can you give
us any sense?
SCHWAN: The science is evolving. There is a lot of research ongoing, but one of the things we see is that people who are less severe, people who are
asymptomatic, they seem to develop less antibodies and the antibodies, which is the response of the body seem to disappear relatively quickly.
This is surprising because for the first SARS virus which occurred about 20 years ago, antibodies survived for two years. So the big question now is,
do you also lose immunity if your antibodies are coming down? That's not necessarily the case because the body's immune system also has a memory
function.
So, there is good reasons also to believe that once you have been infected, even if your antibody levels are coming down again, you might preserve
immunity or at least if you get re-infected again, that the disease will be much less severe.
So the science is evolving. And, you know, we are all working together to better understand and to also then, as a consequence, provide better
diagnostics and better medicines to get our hands around this terrible disease.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, still, so much to learn. Your point about the body's ability to remember what it's been through already, despite a reduction
perhaps in antibodies is a critical point here as well, first to understand.
I want to ask you about your business operations in China. I know overall sales dropped in Asia Pacific and that was led by the shutdown that we saw
in China. But we spend a lot of time on this show talking about international Chinese relations.
As a company that sells in China, that operates in China that is in the healthcare sector, which of course is going under a lot of scrutiny at this
moment for supply chains particularly that are coming from China here. How do you go about assessing the risks to your operations there?
SCHWAN: We are well-established in China. We have the full value chain in China from research and development, manufacturing and the distribution and
sales and marketing; and as such, we are really embedded in the system and we can support the healthcare system.
So actually, we were the very first company back at the beginning of this year to provide a molecular test to those regions in China, which were
affected. And we are also doing research and development in China to develop potential antiviral medicines.
So China is important for us from a market point of view, but I believe increasingly, China will also play a role as an innovation hub.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a partnership. Severin Schwan, great to have you on the show. Thank you so much for your wisdom this morning.
SCHWAN: Thank you for having me.
CHATTERLEY: The CEO of Roche. Thank you. All right, we are counting down to the market open. As always, we're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:31:47]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stock markets are up and running for the fourth session this week. I can give you a look at what
we're seeing here. Slightly lower, some two tenths of one percent as you can see there across the board.
Some disappointment perhaps after the jobless claims numbers rose by a higher amount than expected last week and of course, donor agreement in
Washington to extend the enhanced jobless benefits for Americans that runs out this month.
Goldman Sachs CEO saying yesterday that the rebound in U.S. growth will slow over the coming months with weaker economic numbers coming. He says
the U.S. is in for a bumpy ride.
A few bumps though in the road, however for Tesla. Its shares on the rise after reporting its fourth straight quarterly profit. The next pit stop
could be the S&P 500 if indeed they are included in the index.
Meanwhile, Microsoft seeing a bit of a pullback this morning, down some one and a half percent in early trade after this year's stellar 34 percent
advance. Perspective is everything. Results did top expectations, but growth slowed somewhat in its Cloud division.
Now, the latest tally of all Americans claiming some form of jobless benefits stands at an eye watering 31.8 million people as I mentioned
earlier on the show. Compare and contrast, a year ago, that number was 1.7 million people.
It comes as the White House says the PPP small loan -- small business lending program actually saved 51 million jobs. Admittedly, that number is
being questioned. But in any case, there are now fears that millions of those jobs could now be at risk, too.
Goldman Sachs found that 84 percent of small businesses that actually got their hands on loans will run out of money by August, and only 16 percent
will be able to continue to pay workers when that happens. These are huge numbers.
Joining us now is John Hope Bryant, founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation Hope, a nonprofit organization which focuses on financial literacy and
inclusion. John, always fantastic to have you here on FIRST MOVE.
Those numbers are astonishing, and yet there's debate in D.C. over how and what to do about ongoing stimulus measures. What do you make of it all?
JOHN HOPE BRYANT, FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, OPERATION HOPE: Well, it's sort of like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The ship is
sinking and people are picking drapes. We have got to understand that this is not normal, to your point.
We've got to understand that we are effectively at war with a virus. The world is at war. It's a war without bombs and bullets, yes, but it is a war
nonetheless. And there is a healthcare front. There is an economic front, and then there is a systemic social justice front.
And then there are elements that I believe are international in nature that want at least the U.S. to stumble and fall, because it's in their interest.
And I think that the latter part, I don't think is a conspiracy. I think it is the competitive nature of nations and we have got to get our mojo back.
Every war needs a battle plan. One plan, long term, not little hill skirmishes, which is what to your point, is going on in Washington, D.C.
[09:35:23]
BRYANT: We came out of this -- out of the blocks initially very strong with all parties agreeing on the PPP program, the initial stimulus, but now
this has gotten legs, we are stumbling a bit and we've got to get our clarity back -- and quick.
CHATTERLEY: We're in a situation, as well, I think to your point, we're fighting a war against a virus. In fact, we look to be losing that war
based on just the rising cases around the country, and yet the message seems to be from the Republican side that there's a disincentive effect for
workers to get back to work in the form of these benefits.
If we look at the poorest subset of American workers out there or non- workers at this moment, in addition to the racial challenges, too that this virus provides, it's sort of astonishing to me that we're not recognizing
the inherent bias, actually, of not just stepping up, even for a short while further of providing further support. Would you agree with that?
BRYANT: I do agree with it. I just think that people are stuck in their own narrative. They have not yet realized, again, as I just said that this
is not a momentary political and societal challenge. It's a war.
And in that environment, we must all go from me focused to we focused. With regard to those quote "sitting at home," we must all remember that the
government told them to sit at home. We must remember that the government told businesses to shut down, which is why the Federal Reserve has done a
good job of keeping the Fed window open and saying as long as we need to provide confidence to markets, that's why the markets, the investor economy
is almost, Julia, like there's two economics going on here. Actually, there are.
There's the investor economy up top, that's actually going to probably do fit reasonably well, in some ways, has profited. And they will recover the
last part of this year.
And then you have the workforce economy, or the everyday economy at the bottom and that's feeling like an ale. So the top is going to like a soft
view. The bottom is feeling like an ale, which is a recession that feels like a depression. Those are hourly workers who are being laid off. Those
people with high school educations.
But we must keep in mind that this is not a country built by rich people. This is a country built by immigrants and once poor people who built some
of the biggest companies in the world from nothing and that that is who we should be supporting, the bottom of the pyramid holds up the top, 70
percent of our economy is consumer spending.
And it's all of these folks that we are complaining about who are really keeping our economy going, they are doing -- the hourly workers are the
ones doing our deliveries, they are our secondary responders. They need more respect and consideration.
But to your point, I think I just want to remind everybody, pick a number, just pick a number and let's knock it off, because we told everybody to go
sit down. The government said to everybody, stop it. We need to flatten the curve. That's where this started, not because people were lazy, not because
there was some problem in our economy. Our government said to stop and we did.
CHATTERLEY: John, talk about policy here. There is a moment, an opportunity to address some of the imbalances that exists, to your point,
and trying to diffuse some of the anger that the country faces and the risks I think to social fabric.
We've seen some weeks of it, things have quieted down. The risk is that it accelerates, particularly if we see further economic damage. What policies
do we need to see?
BRYANT: Well, to your point, and I believe that there are people of goodwill in both parties by the way. I just think that folks have not yet
gotten the memo on how serious this is, again, knock it off.
I've authored something called, as you know, "The New Marshal Plan." It's got a lot of pickup. It got one state -- actually, I'll be announcing soon
that it has adopted it. Several companies have adopted pieces of it.
We need our Federal government to be looking at long term internships for all. Long term apprenticeships for all. Because the ladder of aspiration,
Julia has been broken.
We need K through college focus, not K through high school. You cannot have the leading nation in the world half of its people are high school
educated, focused on jobs in the past versus jobs in the future.
Financial literacy for all. We live in an economic democracy. We need to make sure everybody is financially literate. One of the big things is a
living wage for all, which we can do through the Tax Code, something called the Earned Income Tax Credit for anybody who makes a few thousand dollars a
year or less, they would get a bonus for working just like Wall Street does.
[09:40:26]
BRYANT: So Wall Street gets a check, and then they get a bonus at the end of the year. The average worker would get a check and get a bonus working
at the end of the year that would bring their income up about 20 percent.
A lot of what you're experiencing right now, you're seeing in social strife, whether it's black and brown folks riding in the streets or my
wife's poor white friends four years ago riding at the ballot box. Think about that. It's all economic frustration.
If people don't think they've got enough aspiration in their life, somebody is holding them back. Somebody is getting something they're not.
We say we hate rich people, Julia. No, we don't. We hate rich people until we become rich.
What we hate is a gamed system. So how do we expand and deepen this pool of opportunity so that everybody feels like they have a shot? That's what we
did after World War II.
We repaired and rebuilt the places that had bombed us, Germany and Japan, two of our allies today, trading and economic and policy. And then we gave
our returning GIs as much education as they can shove down their throat, a mortgage for a new home, wealth creation, and an apprenticeship for a job
for the future.
I guess, I'm saying that on steroids. I'm saying -- and of course the plan is much more in it than this. But what I'm saying is, we need a solution
that's as big or bigger than the problem that we are facing and we all need to see ourselves wrapped up in it, because we're all in this mess together.
I believe, I am hopeful, I believe we're going to get through this and we're going to be stronger on the other side, but we've got to knock it
off, knock off the small skirmishes, the partisan bickering. There is no time for that.
We are one nation and we need to be one world to all of your international viewers.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. We're all stakeholders in this. Everyone benefits when we pull up the lowest and those are the struggling. John, thank you so much as
always. John Hope Bryant, founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation Hope. Great to get your perspective.
All right, we heard from Roche earlier, one of the world's best known drug brands, but what do you know about the Serum Institute of India? Well,
India's number one biotech giant promising a low cost coronavirus vaccine at the end of this year. Find out how after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:40]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. As the world races to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, India's largest biotech says it's ready to swing into
mass production.
The Serum Institute of India claims the crown of being the world's largest vaccine maker by a number of doses made and sold. It says it wants to make
one billion doses of Covidshield vaccine next year in partnership with the Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The Institute is hoping to start human
trials next month.
And just to give you a sense of scale here, they provide cheap vaccines to 170 countries including vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, hep B, measles,
mumps and rubella, among others.
Adar Poonawalla is the owner and CEO of the Serum Institute of India, and joins us now. Sir, fantastic to have you on the show. Your father began
this institute many years ago to bring cheaper vaccines to the masses, and I can only imagine how busy you've been this year, five projects going on
at least. Three of them towards mass production of vaccine candidates being developed by other countries and businesses.
Talk us through those specifically now and when we can expect to see a vaccine on the market, if all goes well.
ADAR POONAWALLA, OWNER AND CEO, SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA: Sure, thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you.
You know, when my father started the Institute 50 years ago, he always wanted to do something for the masses and have the vaccines that were
always unaffordable that Big Pharma made to all these countries, which didn't have the insurance claims and people have to pay and buy these
products, you know, by going into their own pockets.
A lot of these governments also couldn't afford in Africa and in India to buy these vaccines. And then GAVI came along and you know, that's why we've
been able to provide a lot of these vaccines to all these countries. That's how we built scale in those years. And, you know, as I took over in 2011,
as CEO, I've been building a lot of capacity ahead of time and that's why perhaps, we're one of the few who are able to rise to the occasion, and
have this excess and spare capacity that we're able to quickly rejig and that's what I've been doing since March to accommodate multiple candidates.
I mean, we've got a plethora of vaccines and partnerships that we've been very busy getting on board and you know, leading the way is AstraZeneca and
then you've got Novavax, which you've probably heard about, and how they're getting along, you know, probably a month or two behind this product.
So you've got the AstraZeneca-Oxford product, which we're going to start Phase 3 licensure trials in August in India, and hopefully go for a license
in October-November, and make it available to the world, in all of these 60 to 70 countries and in India to begin with, because those are the rights
that we have at the moment with Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Of course, the trial has to succeed and the vaccine has to work, but I think everyone on is pretty confident and there's a 70 percent chance that
the Oxford scientists believe in that product, and then of course, we've got Novavax and our own two candidates, and then we've got Codagenix, which
is a company that we've negotiated worldwide rights, which is based out of the United States.
So at the moment, we've got these five partnerships, and we're firing as many barrels as we can, in the hope that one of the vaccines succeed, and
then you know, we'll have to go from there.
CHATTERLEY: It's fantastic for one, that you as you said, you've got your own two vaccines in development as well. If you're successful with those,
which is something completely different, I think for the Serum Institute, how quickly could we see those come to market? Is there going to be more of
a delay compared to the sort of partnerships that you've negotiated with others that you've said in Phase 3 if not approaching?
POONAWALLA: Absolutely. So you know, we're looking at third quarter 2021 for our candidates to probably get licensed because they're just completing
the animal studies, and then they'll go into Phase 1 end of this year.
So if we're talking about Phase 2 and 3, we're probably talking about a year and a half from today, and that's exactly why we partnered with all of
these other institutes and universities and companies so that we'd get a head start also on all of these candidates, and you know, we always knew
Oxford and had an earlier partnership to make the malaria vaccine with them and that's also been going on. It's in a Phase 2 in Africa at the moment.
So that's how we knew Oxford originally, and that's how the partnership kind of evolved into the COVID vaccine partnership as well, when the crisis
hit us.
[09:50:21]
CHATTERLEY: I know at the heart of everything that you're doing at the Institute is trying to see greater equanimity and the access to vaccines
for poorer nations. We have seen so many barriers dropped and overcome in the global fight against COVID-19. Do you think this will be a pivot moment
where Big Pharma can adapt to change, change the business model and the hold that they have with intellectual property rights over R&D and things
like vaccines to get vaccines to EM nations quicker?
POONAWALLA: Yes, I mean, we've already seen that where you know Big Pharma is going to have to license out technologies that work out to other
manufacturers to all come together, and I think that is working out pretty well.
So far, I think they've also partnered with some Chinese companies and also in India and other parts of the world, in South America, I heard about some
partnerships and out licensing deals.
Now, I mean, look, we'll have to do that, won't we, because no single company including Serum Institute, will be able to produce everything that
the world needs, especially if we're talking about a two dose vaccine. And most vaccines just -- I don't know if you're aware, but most vaccines like
for pneumonia, rotavirus, measles, even the pentavalent vaccines, they are all two or three-dose vaccines.
So, most probably, dare I say the coronavirus vaccines that are being developed, I think 70 to 80 percent of them are going to end up being two-
dose vaccines if we want long term protection and real coverage to be sure that it's protecting you against the disease.
So I think we're going to have to reach out to as many partners as we can including Serum Institute, because if we license two or three vaccines, we
can't make all of them at the same time. We're probably going to have to license out some of the other products later on.
CHATTERLEY: It's fantastic to hear about your progress. Please come back and talk to us soon because I want to understand if when we're not in a
global fight, like we're in with COVID-19, whether the same kind of community spirit will apply, and we'll all still be a global fight, even if
it's only one part of the world that's affected.
We will reconvene on this discussion, sir. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. The CEO of the Serum Institute of India and thank you to your
team for the hard work.
All right, we're going to take a break here on FIRST MOVE. Coming up, as tensions rise between the United States and China, all eyes turn to the
skies. New developments this morning on the race to Mars. We will be there -- getting there sooner than you think. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:55:06]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to the show. China's first solo entry in the Mars space race is off the ground. The Tianwen-1 rocket is meant to orbit the
Red Planet before putting a vehicle on the surface, and next week, the U.S. will follow suit with NASA set to launch its Perseverance Rover 2. Its
mission to search for microbial life by drilling into Martian rock. Both vehicles are expected to reach Mars in February 2021.
Finally, the end of a-30 year wait in the strangest of circumstances. Liverpool Football Club lifted the English Premier League Trophy Wednesday
night following their win over Chelsea. Hurray.
The ceremony was held in the club's legendary stadium and filled but with social distancing guidelines in place. The fans weren't celebrating in the
stands, instead of having a party in the streets outside. Social distancing applies in the club's first league title in the Premier League era.
Manager, Jurgen Klopp called it absolutely special. Wow, fans stay safe please.
That's it for the show. You've been watching FIRST MOVE. Hurray. I'll see you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
END
