COVID-19 is changing many aspects of modern life, and many of those changes will have long-lasting effects. Drug development is one of those aspects. In this edition of CompTalks, put on by the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference (NWCDC), Phil Walls takes us on a Race for the Cure as he examines how both the pandemic as well as politics have influenced drug and vaccine development for the coronavirus. Walls challenges the audience to think of drug development in a risk versus benefit model where speed to market comes with higher risks – but perhaps justifiable when lives are at stake.