Corona19: Vaccines and medications are getting closer

We all want to get rid of the virus that has killed many people around the world and is destroying many businesses and economies.

Look at the good news I have collected during the last few days:

Moderna Inc., one of the leaders among U.S. companies developing experimental vaccines against the coronavirus, entered a pact with Lonza Group AG aimed at manufacturing 1 billion doses a year.The companies announced a global agreement under which the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical company will ramp up output of the proposed vaccine, which is based on a novel technology that relies on genetic material called mRNA. They expect the first batches to be produced in the U.S. in July. If Moderna and Lonza reach their target of 1 billion doses a year, that would be enough for more than one-eighth of the world’s population.

Last week, AstraZeneca Plc announced an agreement to make an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, eyeing production capacity for 100 million doses by the end of the year.

A partnership between Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline announced last month brought together a pair of pharmaceutical giants with manufacturing might. Sanofi will test its experimental coronavirus vaccine with Glaxo supplying so-called adjuvants, additional ingredients that improve efficacy and make it easier to produce shots in larger quantities.

Pfizer aims to make 10-20 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with Germany’s BioNtech by the end of 2020 for emergency use should it pass tests, the US drugmaker’s head of vaccines said last Thursday.

Japanese biotech companyTakara Bio plans to mass produce novel coronavirus vaccinations as early as this year. If Japan’s health ministry approves a production and sales license this fall, the company would be ready to supply vaccines to 200,000 people this year.

Gilead Sciences Inc.’s antiviral drug remdesivir was cleared by U.S. regulators for emergency use in Covid-19 patients, becoming the first medication backed by early clinical data to be made available to fight the novel coronavirus.Gilead is donating 1.5 million doses of remdesivir, its entire current supply, as it continues to seek full US FDA approval and clearance from regulators around the world. That would cover 140,000 patients based on a 10-day treatment cycle.Gilead didn’t comment on what it plans to charge for the medication once the 1.5 million doses have been exhausted. The company is building a consortium of chemical and pharmaceutical companies to help produce it worldwide.

Avigan, developed by a subsidiary of Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings, blocks viruses from reproducing within the body. Japan looks to approve Avigan as a coronavirus treatment within the month.

There are many other good stories regarding vaccines reaching test stage. Trusting we get a vaccine approved soon, what else do we have to look at?

1. It is one thing to design a vaccine in record time. It is an entirely different challenge to manufacture and distribute one on a scale never before attempted — billions of doses, specially packaged and transported at below-zero temperatures, to nearly every corner of the world.

So the race is on to get ahead of the enormous logistical issues, from basic manufacturing capacity to the shortages of medical glass and stoppers that Bill Gates and others have warned of.

2. The winning companies will be caught between making a profit and treating the world: and then there is a big third issue:

3. While a vaccine is a crucial part of the exit strategy, the world lacks a global system for managing distribution in a crisis. It’s important a vaccine is available equitably and equally everywhere.

That being the case, how will we get the vaccine to the Philippines?

I am sure the Philippines will want to be among the early countries to get the vaccine or the medicine. Who will negotiate and buy it? Who will see to it that the local FDA approves the vaccine or the medicine without delay? Who will be involved in the logistics of distributing 100 million doses and oversee that everybody gets it? How will the pricing be arranged, from arrival in the country to the patient application?

In my view, the Philippines will have to deal with this already now. An interagency team with the involvement of the private sector (pharmaceutical industry, logistics experts, retailers) has to be formed to deal with these issues and see to it that the whole process is efficient. Bear in mind that refrigerated and frozen vaccines must maintain their optimal temperature values to preserve their potency throughout the national distribution process.

That’s the reason why such an interagency team is needed here so that the whole process is transparent, fair and done with integrity. The detailed plan must be in place long before the first shipment arrives.

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