All eyes are on Brazil and not just because of the summer Olympics in Rio.
Although it has been one of the world's most successful emerging economies, Brazil faces corruption at the highest levels, stunted growth and mounting debt. And then there is the Zika virus.
Northeast Brazil was the epicenter of last year's Zika outbreak, which has since spread to several other parts of the Americas.
Initially transmitted through the bite of the Aedes species mosquito and spread through sexual contact and childbirth, Zika has earned the status of Public Health Emergency of International Concern from the World Health Organization.
As a result, pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop a vaccine to arrest Zika's spread. Along the way, there will be plenty of opportunities for investors, including shares of one under-the-radar company, VBI Vaccines (VBIV) .
One big pharma company working on a vaccine is Sanofi of France. Along with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the U.S., Sanofi, through its vaccine unit, Sanofi Pasteur, is working to quickly bring to market a Zika vaccine and to ensure its continued development.
But that doesn't come cheap. The company's first vaccine for dengue, a related ailment, took 20 years of development and $1 billion in funds.
Close on the heels of this development came the announcement of another big pharma firm engaging in Zika research and development: the U.K.'s GlaxoSmithKline.
In collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, GlaxoSmithKline will, after months of effort, proceed with its self-amplifying mRNA, dubbed SAM.
