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Canada's in the middle of a (wholly appropriate and needed) discussion about ensuring biomanufacturing capacity in this country to produce vaccines and other things. Here are some thoughts on that:
The 
discussion so far has focused on two possible scenarios for scaling-up biomanufacturing capacity:
1. Incentivizing the private sector to bring vaccine manufacturing back
2. A public manufacturing option (e.g. the NRC site in Montreal)
I think we should choose option 2.
discussion so far has focused on two possible scenarios for scaling-up biomanufacturing capacity:1. Incentivizing the private sector to bring vaccine manufacturing back
2. A public manufacturing option (e.g. the NRC site in Montreal)
I think we should choose option 2.
Incentivizing private manufacturing perhaps would make us feel more secure, but I think it's arguably less stable because other than having a physical manufacturing plant here for some kinds of vax technologies, doesn't create a compelling reason for a company to stay here.
As many others have pointed out, there are many reasons for why Canada lacks this capacity, but at least some of the explanation comes down to this: it was a strategic business decision made by profit-motivated companies.
There are perhaps ways of incentivizing a company to build a manufacturing facility here. And maybe ways of getting them to stay. But I don't think this is the strategic role that Canada should be considering playing, and I think it's ultimately a model that's failed in the past.
Unless we can somehow incentivize a company to have a highly agile facility in Canada, I think we're very likely to end up with a manufacturer capable of producing one kind of vaccine (e.g. influenza vaccines) that may not solve the problems we have today and in future pandemics.
It's not to say that this would not be useful or helpful both domestically and globally (we need flu vaccines, as does the rest of the world), but I think we have a chance to play a more strategic role in global public health and health innovation by doing something different.
@AbernsteinCIFAR and @VeilletteAndre make the case for a homegrown solution for making vaccines for, among other things, large-scale vaccine manufacturing during a pandemic. I agree with them, and I would even take it one step further. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-need-a-homegrown-solution-for-making-enough-vaccines-for-every/
I think we should consider a strategic role for the kind of arms-length manufacturer that they describe, for diseases for which there are market failures: epidemic preparedness, yes, but also things like neglected tropical diseases, antimicrobials, or even rare diseases.
I think a focus on high-need health technologies that have been neglected by the pharma industry would be wholly consistent with the good work that @NRC_CNRC is doing anyhow, for example in developing a vaccine for haemophilus influenzae type a (Hia) https://www.canada.ca/en/national-research-council/news/2017/12/vaccine_to_preventdeadlyinfectionsincanadasnorthreachesmanufactu.html
Or the NRC's work to redevelop and manufacture Glybera (a highly effective gene therapy for a rare disease - LPLD - that was abandoned by a pharmaceutical company who couldn't find anyone willing to pay $1M per dose, and now patients lack access). https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/glybera-lpld-rare-drug-orphan-disease-nrc-cbc-price-1.5312177
My point is this: it's not just a biomanufacturing problem that Canadians should be focused on. We should be focusing on how to incentivize a medical R&D system that prioritizes, develops, and delivers affordable health technologies that the world needs.
Canada has a real opportunity here to get this right, if we can focus on the big problems, which go beyond biomanufacturing alone. @aledmedwards @IP_policy & Christopher McCabe make this point here, arguing (correctly) for open science drug discovery: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-investing-toward-the-future-rather-than-the-past/
Canada should resist the temptation to invest in business-as-usual pharmaceutical R&D & manufacturing after the pandemic. We should instead be investing in health needs-driven, open science models of drug development & manufacturing and prioritize global access & affordability.
Canada can do this. We have expertise in the scientific areas of drug and vaccine discovery and in open science models of R&D that are prioritizing global equitable access & affordability. We can create a Canadian drug discovery ecosystem that responds to public health needs.
There's a strong case for investing in Canadian biomanufacturing capacity - the pandemic has shown us this - but let's be strategic about how we incentivize this and what we want. We should link this to drug discovery and development, and there are good options on the table.
I would also add that I think we should consider the role of a Canadian biomanufacturer in addressing high-need medicines for which there are also market failures. Things like penicillin: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/21/why-is-the-world-suffering-from-a-penicillin-shortage
Or diphtheria antitoxin. In this case, the global market is so underserved that the supply available in the US expired a decade ago. Why? The market's too small to be profitable, so companies have withdrawn from it. https://twitter.com/HealthLawAdamH/status/1322022624512286721
I'm not saying that these are necessarily the right drugs or technologies for Canada to produce, I'm just saying that there is a role for a biomanufacturer with a global public health and public interest mandate that's disconnected from an exclusive need to generate profits.
It's a rare moment when a country publicly debates how best to invest in a coordinated system that links its medical research & development and biomanufacturing capacity, to ensure that patient and public health needs are met. Let's get this right.
Canada should invest in biomanufacturing capacity. I agree completely. But we should view this as a one part of a broader access-driven, open science approach to drug discovery, and should consider what role biomanufacturing plays in addressing unmet global health needs.
biomanufacturing plays in addressing unmet global health needs.
