BioAsia 2023: India’s ingenuity has been in releasing vaccines at large scale in short time, says Dr Richard Hatchett

New Delhi: Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO, CEPI, UK in his plenary talk at the 20th edition of BioAsia – the marquee healthcare and Life Sciences event, organized by the Government of Telangana, spoke about the unique opportunity presented by India.

Dr Hatchett said: “India’s concentration of talent and capability particularly in development of Medicine and leadership in G20 position India to help the world transform how it respond in terms of future infectious diseases. Viruses aren’t waiting for us to prepare. Covid -9 was disruptive. Right now, NEPAH is circulating that – H5N1 bird flu in Spain that this avian virus can spread easily between people. Mosquito born chikungunya – 12000 cases and more than 20000 in Paraguay after Monkey Pox outbreak last year and Apollo virus in Uganda.”

“We don’t know when and where the next disease is coming next. Closer interaction between humans and animals is going to be involved. We learn to live this new era of epidemics and climate change. If we focus in innovation and collaboration – we can take on the challenge and even prevent the next pandemic,” added Dr Hatchett.

“A dynamic state of readiness – as part of this CEPI has embarked on reducing vaccine development timelines to 100 days. It starts with being prepared. 270 viruses come from 27 viral families. We have proposed to develop a global library of prototype new vaccines. For some of the viral families – Pox viruses it may be possible to develop vaccines that are widely protected. How do we use the global virus library if we haven’t encountered a virus before? The idea is to adapt a vaccine that we have against the new viruses. How fast can we develop a vaccine? We need to get a 100-day mission – with shift in paradigm by systematic preparedness and focus on operational excellence – start immediate Day1 by Day 30 do clinical trials phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in 30 days. Clinical trial teams should take this as their mission. Capture data on safety and excellence of vaccines. Help the regulators to get to the point where they can treat with having a break the glass capability.”

“India’s ingenuity has been in releasing the vaccines at such a large scale in a short time saving millions of lives around the world – mitigated economic losses. India needs to export its scientific and manufacturing know-how to the world. True success depends on multilateral and secular approach – scientific collaborations at national and regional and global scale,” said Dr Hatchett.

“India as part G20 has the tremendous opportunity for leadership in the world and for its commitments to respond to the medical emergencies. By working collaboratively with expertise, effort and time, we can give humanity a future free of pandemic,” concluded Dr Hatchett.