International Workshop on COVID-19 Lessons to Inform Pandemic Influenza Response Proceedings of a Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 Vaccine Research and Development
3 Vaccine Research and Development
Pages 19-28
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From page 19... ...
This chapter highlights promising technology for the future of R&D, areas that can be improved upon after the experiences in 2020, what investments should be prioritized to better prepare for emergency events, and how influenza and other pandemic planning can be enhanced, including ways to improve equitable access of medical products. EXPLORING PROMISING TECHNOLOGY AND STEPS FOR THE FUTURE Beverly Taylor, head of Influenza Scientific Affairs, World Health Organization, and International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA)
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From page 20... ...
, which focuses primarily on pandemic preparedness platforms, and the investments it has been making in diagnostics and sequencing technologies since its inception in 2017. "We need to learn lessons from what we've been through so far," she said, "and there is a lot of appetite within government and coordination to increase investments in public and private pandemic preparedness funding." While the mRNA technology has recently played a pivotal role in the current success of vaccines, she said, it had been studied for more than 20 years.
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From page 21... ...
This could be done through better coordination, more funding for raw materials, or working with the World Trade Organization to eliminate trade and regulatory barriers to adoption of practices for export to facilitate and expedite cross-border supply. As part of this, though the unprecedented time line of the COVID-19 vaccines was in part due to good coordination with regulatory authorities, she also saw areas for improvement on issues such as facility inspections and other innovations related to manufacturing and regulation.
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From page 22... ...
Global Preparedness Network and One Health Throughout the discussions, two specific areas of improvement were mentioned in relation to R&D. Kaushic highlighted the discussions at the 2021 G7 and G20 meetings around a Pandemic Preparedness Network, which would be critical for global coordination efforts to ensure more successfully completed vaccination efforts around the world and support developing strong infrastructure and capacity for technologies for vaccine manufacturing and clinical trials in the Global South.
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From page 23... ...
Bottazzi commented on the huge regional gaps for manufacturing capacity, such as in Africa and Latin America, and the importance of technology transfer. "Everyone wants to enable the new mRNA technology," she said, "but we also need to maintain the warm base of old conventional technology while bringing in new platforms." Funding this ecosystem of technology transfer can increase self-sufficiency by other regions, leveraging and expanding the Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturing Network to other regions of the world.
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From page 24... ...
Alongside epidemiology and genomic surveillance is the need to prepare clinical trial sites and have agreements set for data sharing -- using influenza as a potential model and framework. Kaushic noted that many investments have not come to fruition because of the fragmented networks and clinical trials.
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From page 25... ...
Also given the possibility of waves or seasonality, we will need to have the right systems ready and set to work in near real time, but we currently do not have anything remotely close to this. Balicer noted the lag that occurs in obtaining data on seasonal influenza each year and the number of unknowns trying to understand actual vaccine effectiveness for different age groups in different parts of the world.
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From page 26... ...
Balicer responded that one important issue is the infrastructure of data sharing, which carries with it several complexities from different regulatory mechanisms in different regions and the variability across them. He called for the highest level of privacy and security that is appropriate for those involved as a good basic infrastructure to assist in data sharing during an emergency -- which could be tested during seasonal influenza to see how data would flow in and out.
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From page 27... ...
While the world is fortunate the vaccines were proven successful and authorized so quickly, they are types that are primarily new and never licensed before, creating huge challenges in scalability, cost, and technology transfer, where more conventional methods and platforms were possible. More of a balance is needed between innovative and traditional methods so scenarios can be adapted quickly.
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