The rapid development of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 is the latest example of the role being played vaccination has as guarantor of public health globally. Since the discovery of the first vaccines, the impact they have had on our lives is significant. The vaccination campaigns launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) between 1958 and 1977 against smallpox managed to get it officially eradicated in 1980. Vaccines currently save between two and three million lives worldwide by preventing infectious diseases,
The technological developments that have been experienced in recent decades have made possible the arrival of new vaccines which made it possible to launch successive elimination plans against many vaccine-preventable diseases that threaten millions of lives such as polio, tetanus, measles or rubella, among others.
Vaccines address important health problems and social needs by contributing to the achievement of 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set for the year 2030. While it is true that vaccines help control, eliminate or eradicate many infectious diseases, there are still others for which no effective serum or treatment has been developed. An urgent problem if we take into account that the impacts of climate change will cause both the increase and geographical expansion of outbreaks caused by infectious diseases.
The photograph placed is the starting point of the reportage “Vaccini Europe 2022 Pipeline Review” Prepared by Vaccines Europe, created in 1991 to give you the vaccine industry in the old continent and which currently brings together 15 vaccine manufacturers. The goal of this report, a snapshot of current immunization trends, is to raise awareness of the importance of scientific innovation in the vaccine ecosystem and to reflect manufacturers’ commitment to reduce preventable threats to public health.
According to the data collected in this report, we see that, at the end of July 2022, there were 100 vaccine candidates in the portfolio of Vaccines Europe members. Of these, 92 are prophylactic vaccines yes eight therapeutic vaccines. Most of these vaccine candidates are directed against infectious diseases that are caused by viruses, but there are a significant number of candidate vaccines against diseases caused by bacteria. We also found against two vaccine candidates Plasmodiumthe parasite that causes malaria.
As of the end of July 2022, 29 were in Phase III clinical trials and 11 were under review by relevant regulatory bodies.
The most frequent target of vaccine candidates was SARS-CoV-2 with 29 vaccine candidates including some who combine coronavirus with flu virus. In second place, with 10 vaccine candidates, is the respiratory syncytial virus. Behind are the meningococcal disease (six vaccine candidates) and the influence (11 candidates including the above combinations of serums seeking to protect against this virus and SARS-CoV-2 simultaneously).
If we look at where the developments of these vaccine candidates stand, we see that, as of the end of July 2022, 29 were in phase III clinical trials and 11 under review by relevant regulatory bodies.
A very important point that should be highlighted by this document is that 46% of the candidate vaccines that the companies that make up Vaccines Europe are working on aim to address diseases for which no vaccine has been registered so far. These include vaccine candidates against chikungunya virus, Epstein Barr virus, group B strep, herpes simplex virus, HIV, nipah virus, zika virus, respiratory syncytial virus, meningococcal disease (vaccines targeting the five serotypes A, B, C, W and Y) or extraintestinal pathogen Escherichia coli, among others.
54% of remaining vaccine candidates aim to address diseases for which vaccines already exist, but seek to improve formulations
The remaining 54% of vaccine candidates aim to address diseases for which vaccines already exist, but try to improve the formulations to increase the convenience of its administration, expand the use of the vaccine in new population groups, include more target strains in the vaccine, develop combination vaccines that reduce the number of doses or better fit vaccination schedules, and even use new approaches to tackle diseases using different technologies that allow targeting other parts of the antigen.
The report shows that the vaccines currently under development cover different age groups. “However, more than 80% of these are tested in adults and the elderly, reflecting the challenges ahead and the need for a paradigm shift towards a lifelong approach to vaccination,” the paper points out. . This means protect people from infancy to old age and be able to benefit from it during all stages of life. One of the great challenges we face in terms of public health is that, despite the fact that pediatric vaccination is one of the great medical achievements of the 20th century, vaccination itself vaccination coverage in the elderlyvulnerable population due to the decline that the immune system undergoes in the years known as immunosenescence.
The research and development of new vaccines is a long and costly process due to the high complexity these products involve. The value of vaccines goes beyond the characteristics of a certain serum and its value must be appreciated. decisive socio-economic impact. “To enable continuous innovation, we need a dynamic funding and ecosystem in Europe that delivers regulatory flexibility and support for the intellectual property framework. Pathways to market for vaccine evaluations need to be improved, terms of inclusion improved, and transparency of evaluationsas well as strengthening routine immunization programs,” the report authors conclude.
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