LONDON – The world will need more than one COVID-19 vaccine, so pharmaceutical companies must partner in the race to develop weapons to fight novel coronavirus, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley said on Wednesday .

GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi SA said on Tuesday that they would develop a vaccine to fight the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

The drug makers said they hope to begin clinical trials for the vaccine in the second half of this year. If successful, the vaccine will be available in the second half of 2021.

Walmsley said GSK’s partnership with Sanofi spurred efforts to obtain a Covid-19 vaccine, but there is still much work to do.

According to BBC Radio, “The world needs more than one vaccine when you think about the demand for this very daunting challenge in the global health crisis.”

The adjuvanted vaccine will be developed by combining Sanofi’s S-protein COVID-19 antigen and GSK’s pandemic adjuvant technique.

“It usually takes a decade, sometimes even more, to develop a vaccine, but obviously we are in an unprecedented position. The need is incredibly urgent. We are trying and we are as soon as possible Partnering with regulators to go as fast as possible. “