Why pharma needs help dealing with the 'wicked problem' of vaccine shortages

While pharma companies pile into areas such as oncology and central nervous system disorders in the hope that they can offer the next lifesaving treatment, the fact that there are currently just six global players in the vaccines space indicates that it is an enormously challenging area despite the enormous benefits of immunizations for healthcare systems.

Indeed for every $1 spent on immunizing children against disease, it is estimated that society saves $44, and yet the complications that vaccine manufacturers endure in reaching the right patients promptly make it conceivable that other companies could exit this space.

"Why is it that other industries can innovate in a matter of weeks or months, but for pharma and the vaccines industry, in particular, it takes years?"

A figure from the Switzerland-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA), a group representing pharma across the globe, shows that 15 out 25 vaccines are in shortage or at risk of shortage. This is not just a problem facing the developing world. Countries of all income groups and regions are affected. In parts of Europe, as many as one in three children can be denied access to immunizations due to a shortage.

Anders Vinther (pictured below) is chief quality officer at Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), and chairs the IFPMA’s vaccines heads of quality group. He describes two of the major causes of this worldwide problem as being the domain side and supply side.

“On the domain side, vaccines, and particularly combination vaccines, take a long time to produce,” Dr Vinther says. “From when you start a batch to when it's actually released, it's typically two years.

“If a government comes in and says: 'next month we'd like you to double the supply of this or that vaccine,' that's very difficult if it's not in stock. And most vaccine companies are not sitting with a large inventory of any vaccines - we really release all that we have produced. So if we could improve the domains forecast, that would be very good."

Then of course there is the unique issue which vaccine manufacturers face of having to address sudden outbreaks of infections such as yellow fever or measles.

“Of course that would not happen if people had the vaccines in the first place, but it increases the need all of a sudden for a vaccine, and then can you really increase the supply to that domain?” Dr Vinther asks. “And then there is in general variability in terms of the supply chain systems and coordination between different governments and all of that.”