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Photo: A filled syringe on top of a vaccine bottle/iStock, May Lim
Despite vaccines having great potential to prevent disease and reduce hospitalizations and deaths, the biopharmaceutical industry has spent little money on vaccine development, according to a report released Thursday by industry advocacy group the Biotechnology Innovation Authority. There is a shortage.
According to the report, over the past 10 years, biopharmaceutical companies have allocated just $6.5 billion in venture capital investment to infectious disease vaccine programs, representing just 3.4% of the total venture capital raised over the same period. By comparison, oncology programs received a total of $72.6 billion over the past decade, which is 12 times the industry’s investment in vaccines.
Publicly traded companies working on infectious disease vaccines fared a little better, raising $8.7 billion for their programs, the bulk of which, $6 billion, was raised during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Recently, we have seen incredible progress in areas such as RSV and HPV, but without more dedicated and sustained investment in new vaccines, we will fall behind.” said David Thomas, BIO’s senior vice president of industry research and analysis. statement.
BIO CEO Rachel King added: “To ensure these scientific innovations continue to move forward, we need to prioritize investment in vaccine development.”
According to the BIO report, as a result of biopharmaceutical companies’ sparse investment in vaccine development, their pipelines are “broad but limited to what is needed for successful product development against many important pathogens.” It lacks depth.”
Overall, the industry has 249 clinical-stage vaccine programs, of which 28% or a total of 69 programs are for COVID-19. Many companies, including Pfizer, Novavax and Moderna, have already experienced declines in coronavirus vaccination rates and are redirecting investments to other programs.
Remaining clinical-stage vaccine programs are divided into 46 different pathogens, many of which are of critical public health importance, but only one vaccine is in clinical trials, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and Lyme disease. .
BIO’s report also notes that “there are a number of infectious diseases for which there is no single vaccine program in clinical development,” while drug-resistant bacterial pathogens are now significantly more prevalent in the industry’s current pipeline. He warns that it is undervalued.
To improve the current vaccine pipeline, BIO claims it can not only accelerate the development of novel treatments with better safety and efficacy, but also unlock more support from investors. It is recommended that the platform technology be utilized. The industry will also benefit from efforts to expand access to vaccines and rebuild public confidence in vaccinations around the world, according to the report.
Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Please contact tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.
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