Is the production of vaccines going to be the responsibility of the government?
With the outbreak of a virus like Covid-19, are we going to save more lifes when the development of a vaccine in the Netherlands is the responsibility of the government? Prof. dr. Adam Cohen, professor of clinical pharmacology and founder of the CDHR (Centre for human drugs research), says that the fight against viruses should be nationalized. Cohen told in an interview with Dagblad Trouw on march 28th that we are not protected enough by the current privatized system of vaccine- and medicine development. He compares it with the army that protects us against attacks. The army isn’t privatized, so why should companies that need to protect us against virus attacks be privatized?
Production of vaccines privatized
Until 1900, the situation was different. Back then vaccines were created by state institutions, these vaccines were mostly against tetanus, pertussis and diphtheria. After 1900 the research and development of vaccines shifted towards big pharmaceutical companies and start-ups. This is because nowadays most vaccines are against diseases instead of epidemic infectious diseases (most of those disappeared because of vaccination). It is not financially advisable for private companies to have a constant productioncapacity, just in case a virus breaks out. In the Netherlands we do have Intravacc, a non-profit part of the RIVM. Intravacc primarily does the research and then gives this information and technology to pharmaceutical companies so they can create the vaccine.
Shifting fast
Building a pharmaceutical production location is an expensive matter. This means that it’s not profitable when such a factory stops. And changing the existing production process when a virus breaks out is also not possible.This is why Adam Cohen suggests that the Netherlands should have a standard huge laboratory with adequate test possibilities and a factory to quickly move from pilot phase to production of the vaccine. This type of organization has to be completely manned, operational and needs to have modern equipment. This process equipment should be replaced regularly, even if the factory does not operate for a long time.
Pharmaceutical factory for emergencies
I can find myself in the words of Cohen. But even if the government decides to build a research location and factory to use in emergencies, even then it remains important to be able to quickly adapt in the development of vaccines. To be able to do this, ultrapure single-use process systems could be used. With these plastic systems for single use, installations can easily be built for the research towards and production of vaccines. Another benefit is that it’s easier to use process systems that comply with the technical specifications and pharmaceutical guidelines. Also, the chance of infection and influence of the medium by contamination gets reduced greatly. This is because single-use systems get replaced after a batch is created, instead of being re-used. This means that expensive cleaning procedures aren’t needed and that saves a lot of time. All of this makes the use of single-use systems very advisable in emergencies like with the coronavirus right now.
Solution
With aseptic plastic single-use process systems, pharmaceutical companies can introduce a vaccine fast and safely with the lowest costs possible. This would be a good solution if the government decides to build laboratories and factories because of the current crisis, that can be used during emergencies to rapidly develop vaccines.