Opinion: Prepare Your Biopharma for the Next Pandemic, for Business and Global Good

Crowd wearing masks over background of viral particles/Taylor Tieden for BioSpace

COVID-19’s emergence was a watershed moment in my career as a molecular geneticist. Early in the pandemic, I averaged two hours of sleep nightly as my team at Inovio Pharmaceuticals rushed to develop vaccine options for this new and devastating virus. While some scientists worked around the clock to characterize SARS-CoV-2 and develop vaccines, others focused on robust testing strategies and therapies. Even the most experienced leaders across government, infectious disease research and the medical community were left scrambling.

Although the urgency and devastating toll of the early COVID-19 pandemic are behind us, what many people don’t realize—and frankly, don’t want to hear—is that another pandemic could be right around the corner. Viruses are constantly mutating and enabling cross-species transmission, as we’re currently observing among cattle infected with the latest strains of avian flu. It’s easy to imagine another virus or a future strain eventually passing from animals to humans and igniting another outbreak.

While we can’t necessarily predict or prevent the next pandemic, we can put the knowledge and experience we’ve gained to use. I’ve spent nearly 20 years working in biotech R&D, first at Inovio Pharmaceuticals and now as chief innovation officer at Maravai LifeSciences. In these roles, I’ve seen firsthand how biotech organizations can rise to the occasion in an unprecedented health emergency and how years of investment in RNA vaccine technology were quickly and successfully put to the test in response to COVID-19.

I encourage biopharma leaders to reflect on the massive impact of that pandemic and continue to proactively advocate for pandemic preparedness. While many clinical programs halted by COVID-19 are back in full swing, we cannot put the lessons of this pandemic in the rearview. As we dive back into wider therapeutic innovation, it will be crucial for biopharma leaders to continue the momentum of investments made in basic research and infrastructure to support pandemic preparedness.

When the inevitable happens, these efforts will place us in a stronger position to respond as effectively as possible, minimizing the harm of an outbreak to global public health. They will also support successful business operations—with or without a global outbreak.

Decades of research in viral structure and function, mRNA vaccine technology, delivery formulations and myriad other focus areas empowered a momentous public health accomplishment: an mRNA vaccine candidate entering into clinical trials fewer than 100 days into the COVID-19 pandemic and two mRNA vaccines—Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty and Moderna’s Spikevax—receiving Emergency Use Authorization in under one year.

Prior research into understanding coronaviruses and developing mRNA vaccine technology accelerated this timeline and reified the potential of RNA therapeutics and vaccines. Relevant R&D investments, including understanding growing threats like antimicrobial resistance and building a stronger vaccine pipeline, will prepare us for the next pandemic threat.

Such efforts aren’t purely about public health security—they’re also an investment in business security. Innovations enhancing the performance of lipid nanoparticle delivery technology and the application of therapeutic mRNAs will help biotech organizations realize the full potential of these technologies across industries beyond infectious disease. With a projected market size of $31.3 billion by 2030, securing a place within the growing mRNA therapeutics space will be a strong business decision for biotechs.

Despite the efficient development of COVID-19 vaccines, the pandemic revealed shortcomings in the global biomedical supply chain and the limitations of a “just-in-time” strategy. Reducing the risk of these disruptions in a future outbreak will require improvements in manufacturing capacity and supply chain security. Investing in streamlined manufacturing processes, advanced analytics capabilities, and flexible, scalable facilities that can rapidly adapt to ramp up production in response to a pandemic will be crucial to delivering safe and effective vaccines and therapies when they’re needed most.

The benefits of supply chain resilience for biotech organizations extend far beyond pandemic preparedness, ensuring that companies stay abreast of inventories and head off drug shortages before they start, as well as enabling adaptability in the event of any disruption. By avoiding reliance on single sources of critical raw materials, proactively identifying alternative suppliers and establishing manufacturing capabilities in different regions, biopharma companies can better secure continuity of supply.

Establishing these measures, however, can require a considerable investment for individual companies. Collaboration across biopharma and with governments, public health agencies and other stakeholders will be essential to building long-term resilience and ensuring equitable distribution of critical supplies in the event of a public health crisis. While public-private collaborative efforts such as the Pandemic Supply Chain Network (PSCN) existed prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 spotlighted the need for sustained investment and political will to truly secure the global healthcare supply chain.

The challenges and successes of our pandemic response underscored the importance of communication among research bodies, governments, drugmakers and the public. Established lines of communication to share vital real-time data on pathogens can empower faster development of vaccines and therapeutics, as evidenced by the expansion of public health data collection during COVID-19. Moreover, data-sharing efforts between public and private partners, such as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Freight Logistics Optimizations Works (FLOW), could provide greater transparency into logistics and market intelligence data to anticipate and mitigate supply chain challenges.

Also critical to a successful pandemic response is effective public communication. Growing skepticism of vaccines and the biomedical research establishment in general was laid bare by COVID-19, creating avenues for misinformation to tear through social media and other information platforms.

As a scientist working in vaccine development, I was called upon to relay key clinical development updates at the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response meetings. This was well outside my comfort zone, but the experience underscored how vital it is for biopharma leaders to see these communications as part of the job. Explaining notable advancements in our industry to those who rely on them, most of whom lack any scientific background, is a crucial public health service.

It’s also a way to advocate for our organizations. We must invest in communication efforts among biopharma, government and the public to foster scientific literacy, improve transparency and build trust in our industry, ensuring that all citizens can feel secure in evidence-based intervention efforts in a future public health crisis.

COVID-19 illuminated the incredible possibilities of therapeutic mRNA and the value of foundational infectious disease research while also revealing weaknesses in the global biomedical supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure. Most importantly, however, it reminded us that such a universal, catastrophic public health crisis is possible within our lifetimes. It’s our responsibility as biopharma leaders to do what we do best: learn from what we observe, draw informed conclusions and use them to guide our actions moving forward.

It’s impossible to know if or when another pandemic will arise. But by leveraging the lessons of COVID-19, we can ensure the global community will be better-prepared and safer in the years to come while strengthening the biopharma industry of today.

Kate Broderick, PhD, is the chief innovation officer at Maravai LifeSciences and has more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry. A recognized vaccine expert, Broderick has a broad background in device and product development in the DNA therapeutic and drug delivery field.