Davos/New Delhi:
With the world having moved away to a large extent from broader concerns on COVID – it is something that is never really going away – it’s also time to focus on new vaccines that can change the lives of any number of people around the world. The Serum Institute of India (SII) is a global leader in making vaccines.
Its CEO Adar Poonawalla spoke to NDTV on a range of issues, key among them the vaccine for malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos.
“I just want to say I really hate mosquitoes. They kill more human beings than any other animal on the planet, with all the different mosquito-borne diseases from dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, malaria. So with that in mind, after COVID, I sort of focused our capex and partnerships with various companies to make vaccines for malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. Those other vaccines are about two years away from launch,” Mr Poonawalla told NDTV.
The Pune-based company’s malaria vaccine has already been deployed in Africa. It has an efficacy of 77 per cent, “which is very good,” he said.
“The malaria vaccine is already beginning to protect children in Africa. Right now with the Gavi replenishment, where they need to raise billions of dollars for various vaccine programmes in Africa, it is challenging to get enough funding to get the kind of vaccine coverage to scale up volumes to be delivered and procured,” Mr Poonawala said, referring to the the vaccine alliance Gavi which works to increase equitable and sustainable use of vaccines globally.
On whether costing is an issue, Mr Poonawalla said that is an area where the Indian company played a huge role.
“This malaria vaccine by other manufacturers in the West was being offered at $10, $8 to $10. We brought down that price to $4,” he told NDTV. “So that’s more than a 50 per cent reduction, only with the objective of providing more access to more children who can now take it, with the budgets being strained and all of that.”
Concerns Over No US Funding
Mr Poonawalla raised concerns over the withdrawal of US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by the new American President Donald Trump, and highlighted the importance of multilateral institutions such as WHO in maintaining global standards for medicines.
“I hope that’s only temporary and they relook at it because multilateral organisations like the WHO play a very critical role in maintaining, sustaining global standards for medicines and vaccines,” Mr Poonawalla said.
Even with American money for WHO, other countries can work together to bridge the gap which “is not a huge amount”.
“We have been calling upon leaders and others here [Davos] to step up to bridge that gap; $500 million is not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things for others to pitch in and contribute. I’m sure that the WHO is already making plans to ensure all their critical programmes such as pre-qualifying vaccines and getting them approved and maintaining the standards for vaccines and other medicines are not affected,” Mr Poonawalla said. “These are very critical aspects of what WHO does because all these other countries go by their quality standards and recommendations.”
He said there could be some impact to vaccine and pharmaceutical companies if the funding gap is not looked into. “I am sure the WHO will be focusing on their key areas and priorities so that nothing takes a backstep. It’s still early days to say, but I don’t see any major impact as of now.”
Vaccines In The Pipeline
Mr Poonawalla said the malaria vaccine works on the falciparum, a species of the parasite Plasmodium that causes malaria and is found in Africa. The vivax is another species of the parasite that is prevalent in India, but there is no vaccine for that at the moment, he said, adding a vaccine could be developed in a few years with some technological advances.
“In the meanwhile, we are going to have a chikungunya vaccine in a year and a half, which is, again, a serious issue in India. And also with climate change, we have seen a drastic increase in all these mosquito-borne viruses because when you have construction going on in development in this part of the world, you have these water bodies which become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. You have got climate change, where even a few degrees difference can increase the breeding of some of these mosquito species,” Mr Poonawalla told NDTV.
He said the dengue vaccine will come in a little over two years; it will be a one-shot vaccine, and multiple doses will not be needed.
“There aren’t many manufacturers who make these vaccines because typically they are all sold at a very low price. So it’s not commercially interesting to most pharmaceutical companies to make these vaccines. That’s where we and the Serum Institute play a very key role,” Mr Poonawalla said.
The five-day meeting at Davos that began on Monday is exploring how to relaunch growth, harness new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. The global meeting is seeing participation by nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries, including 350 governmental leaders.
India’s participation at Davos aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investment, and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India sent five Union ministers, three chief ministers, and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.