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This entry in our series on “Vaccines: The Next 10 Years” comes from Dr. Peter Hotez of the Sabin Vaccine Institute:
We are in an exciting new era of vaccine development. After a decade or more in which major pharmaceutical companies left the vaccine manufacturing space for more lucrative opportunities, there has been a resurgence, such that major companies have either returned or entered into this market.
Yet despite this time of great opportunity, there is still an urgent need to develop vaccines to combat the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)—which primarily affect the world’s poorest people (the “bottom billion”) residing in developing countries—and to increase access to affordable vaccines for diseases and infections like Human papillomavirus (HPV), rotavirus, and pneumococcal disease.
The effects of these diseases and infections range from iron-deficiency anemia and inner ear infections in the case of hookworm infection and pneumococcal disease, to cervical cancer and death for HPV and rotavirus. Except for hookworm infection for which a vaccine does not currently exist (more on that later); pneumococcal disease, HPV, and rotavirus are all preventable with vaccines. Vaccines have the power to save lives if individuals are able to access and afford them.
For NTDs, the vaccine development sector climate is a bit different. Because NTDs almost exclusively affect the world’s poorest people, there is no traditional market for NTD vaccines. Through the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other philanthropies, however, the Sabin Vaccine Institute has established an innovative product development partnership (PDP) to develop vaccines for hookworm infection and schistosomiasis.
At the Sabin Vaccine Institute we sometimes refer to such vaccines as “antipoverty vaccines” because of their ability to both improve economic development as well as health. NTDs have been shown to represent a major reason why the poorest people in developing countries remain trapped in poverty.
On the flipside, once vaccines are developed they need to be affordable and easily accessible by the individuals who need them. Sabin has taken two interesting approaches to addressing these issues. Our international advocacy and education team aims to raise awareness on, and increase utilization of, both traditional and new and underutilized vaccines. Sabin’s Sustainable Immunization Financing (SIF) Program takes the issue of affordability one step further by working with developing country governments to help them increase their share and amount of immunization funding.
Another innovative approach to ensuring that vaccines are affordable and accessible is working with the in-country health institutions to develop vaccines, test them on endemic populations, and directly transfer technology and build capacity in-country. Our hookworm and schistosomiasis vaccines are being developed in collaboration with Brazilian government institutions including FIOCRUZ and Instituto Butantan to ensure that the future vaccines will be directly tailored to, and accessible by, the individuals who are suffering from the NTD.
While the vaccine development sector is certainly experiencing a time of renewed interest and innovation, it’s easy to understand how complex the atmosphere can remain even after a vaccine has been developed. We have a tremendous opportunity to tackle these issues during the “golden age” of vaccines.
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