GSK President Of Vaccines Weighs In On Challenges Presented By Ebola And Zika
By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL
From The Cutting Room Floor: September 2016 Issue
Will GSK's Deal With Novartis Pay Off For Its Vaccine Aspirations?
Following Luc Debruyne’s participation in an educational session at this year’s BIO International Convention, the president of GSK Vaccines sat down with me to share his insights on the world of vaccines. During our conversation, (much of which was captured in the September 2016 feature article in Life Science Leader magazine), I asked Debruyne about some of the challenges faced by vaccine developers when it comes to viruses like Ebola and Zika. “The 2014 Ebola outbreak was a wakeup call for the world,” he attests. “It was a bit chaotic, a bit of not being prepared, and everyone seemed to be scrambling. As a global player in vaccines, when you receive calls during a crisis, your response can’t be, ’No, we’re not interested because we’re too busy doing commercial vaccines.’ But at the same time, I don’t think people understand the disruption that such global crises cause for an organization like GSK,” he reveals. “The reality is, we don’t have an empty factory waiting to produce vaccines for viruses like Ebola and Zika.” That being said, Debruyne believes the Ebola outbreak of 2014 represents a great example of a collaborative effort, between organizations like GSK, NIH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Commission, the Wellcome Trust, WHO, and regulators. “The need was there, and we were able to shorten 10 years of development processes into almost 10 months,” he attests. “While the problem could have been worse and too many people died, the key learning from the experience is how to be more ready.”
Debruyne ponders if it might be possible to have some type of pandemic insurance policy and what it would look like. “Can we have constant effort similar to how GSK invests in new technology platforms to improve manufacturing processes?” he wonders aloud. “Perhaps then when Zika happens, we know how to produce a vaccine with that antigen.” According to Debruyne, there is a WHO list of 70 potential pathogens. “Why can’t WHO, for example, say, ‘Okay industry, we think that these two are the most urgent pathogens you should work on for this year.’ Next year you should work on this one, and so on.” In this way, there would be constant effort and better readiness of a network of different companies.” Julio Frenk, M.D., wrote an interesting article in the New England Journal of Medicine where he discusses the concept just explained by Debruyne (i.e. global medical governance).
When it comes to healthcare, there seems to exist a sovereignty paradox. “A national government is ultimately responsible for its medical choices and investment,” Debruyne explains the concept, continuing “But at the same time, when a disease like Ebola hits, you then realize it could have been prevented if the health infrastructure was in place and if political choices would have been made to invest in prevention.” Debruyne visited the Ebola treatment center in Conakry, Guinea shortly after the peak of the Ebola outbreak. “With all the traveling that happens today, we have to realize that pathogens don’t have borders,” he says. “There was only a year and a half between the end of the Ebola outbreak and the beginning of the current Zika crisis. Given this trend, perhaps the next significant disease outbreak could be even sooner. We have to do a better job of coordinating between countries, governments, regulatory authorities, WHO, and others if we want to better manage and prevent potential global pandemics.” While many understand the importance of vaccination as a health issue, it also is a political choice. “As Nelson Mandela said, ‘Giving children a healthy start in life, no matter where they are born or the circumstances of their birth, is the moral obligation of every one of us... We have a global responsibility to give of the utmost of ourselves, materially and morally, in this partnership,’” Debruyne concludes.