Developing a cold vaccine has long been dismissed as implausiblebecause colds are caused by many different viruses, each of whichis highly susceptible to mutations. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Is there any limit to what Amazon can do? The company had itswork cut out for it when the tech giant announced it was entering the health care space, but apparentlyreforming the drug supply chain and how care is delivered justwasn't enough. The company's latest ambition? Working on avaccine to prevent the common cold.

The news, reported Friday by CNBC, is understandably overshadowed bycoronavirus, a disease that researchers arescrambling to develop a vaccine for.

Related: Initiative aims to introduce consumers totelehealth during cold and flu season

However, a cold vaccine is nothing to sneeze at –– it wouldsolve a problem that a 2003 study estimated costs the U.S. economyan estimated $40 billion a year. That amounts to $56 billion in2020 dollars.

Developing a cold vaccine has long been dismissed as implausiblebecause colds are caused by many different viruses, each of whichis highly susceptible to mutations. The most common source of coldsis the rhinovirus, of which there are 160 known strains. Even ifsomebody develops an effective vaccine against one strain of thevirus, it may not prevent a large enough percentage of colds to beattractive to medical providers or consumers.

And because most people recover from colds in a few days,they're not likely to opt for a medication that has serious sideeffects. Insurers may also not be eager to pay for it. Without aguaranteed customer base, a cold vaccine is a very risky investmentfor pharmaceutical companies and venture capitalists.

It therefore makes sense that Amazon, which has seeminglylimitless access to capital, would be the one to go for it.

The secret project is dubbed Project Gesundheit andincludes more than 100 people, according to CNBC. Thecompany will not acknowledge its existence but CNBC cited threesources with knowledge of the project.

Meanwhile, researchers at Stanford have been working for some time on another curefor the cold. They hope the cold can be prevented by disabling asingle protein in our cells.

In a study published in September, the Stanford researchers saidthey had found a "way to stop a broad range of enteroviruses,including rhinoviruses, from replicating inside human cells inculture, as well as in mice."

"Our grandmas have always been asking us, 'If you're so smart,why haven't you come up with a cure for the common cold?'" JanCarette, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology whois leading the Stanford research. "Now we have a new way to dothat."

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