How Businesses Are Fighting COVID-19

Armani: Billionaire Giorgio Armani’s luxury fashion brand converted all production at its Italian factories to manufacture single-use medical overallsand on March 26. BioNTech: German biotech firm backed by billionaire twins Thomas and Andreas Struengmann is working to develop a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with Pfizer and Fosun Pharma, chaired by billionaire Guo Guangchang. Carbon: California-based 3D printing unicorn backed by Russian tech investor Yuri Milner will soon be distributing testing swabs and face shields to hospitals in the Bay Area. Carbyne: New York startup’s emergency response tool, backed by Peter Thiel’s VC fundusers , is being used by 911 responders in New Orleans to track patients by video screening callers. CureVac: German firm, funded by billionaire Dietmar Hopp and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, received $87 million from the European Commission to scale up development of its coronavirus vaccineand . DiaSorin: Italian biotech company owned by billionaire Gustavo Denegri obtained emergency authorization from the FDA for its new 60-minute testing kit for COVID-19. Dyson: British billionaire James Dyson announced his vacuum cleaner and hand dryer firm would start designing and making 10,000 ventilators, with more to come. Ford: Auto giant is working with 3M and GE’s healthcare unit to make respirators, ventilators and face shields at its manufacturing sites; Ford and GE Healthcare announced on March 30 that the companies would produce 50,000 ventilators by July 8 with plans to increase production to 30,000 a month. Gojo Industries: The Ohio-based maker of Purell, owned by a billionaire family, is prioritizing delivery of its ubiquitous hand sanitizers to health workers and first responders on the frontlines. Johnson & Johnson: The company’s pharma unit, Janssen, will start manufacturing its vaccine — developed with the Department of Health and Human Services — this month, with human trials set to begin by September and a public rollout hoped for early 2021. The company and the federal government are investing more than $1 billion in the vaccine effort. Medline: Northfield, Illinois family-owned manufacturer is ramping up production to supply medical masks, biohazard bags, surgical clothing and disinfectants to hospitals across the United States. Medtronic: Minnesota-based medical device maker publicly shared the design specifications for its basic ventilator model, with the goal of helping other companies quickly manufacture ventilators.