Manufacturing safe, effective and trusted vaccines is crucial to stopping the global Covid-19 pandemic. This challenge is compounded by the need to deliver multiple vaccine platforms at an unprecedented scale and in shorter timeframes than previously thought possible. In this session we will examine various manufacturing platforms currently producing Covid-19 vaccines worldwide. In addition, we will discuss the pros and cons of different technologies, assess which technologies will likely prevail in the global marketplace, and consider the impact of intellectual property and government policies on efforts to meet the global demand for Covid-19 vaccine.

Panelists

Dr. Matthew Johnson heads the cGMP organization at DHVI, with the goal of accelerating the delivery of novel therapies to Phase I clinical trials with cGMP production. He serves as Principal Investigator of the Vaccine Manufacturing & Toxicology Core for the NIH-sponsored Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs), oversees process development and cGMP manufacture of vaccine candidates for DAIDS sponsored HIV programs, and leads development efforts for the Gates DHVI Protein Production Facility.

Dr. Krishna Prasad is a recognized vaccine industry leader and founder of Citranvi Biosciences. During his earlier tenure of 20 years at Pfizer, he led the development efforts of the world’s largest selling vaccine Prevnar-13® to prevent pneumococcal disease and clinical candidates including group B streptococcus, staphylococcus aureus, and respiratory syncytial virus.  He has been named as an inventor in 150 patents, which played a significant role towards the development of Pfizer’s vaccine portfolio. He is a consultant for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and serves on the Advisory Board of CARB-X and as Adjunct Asst. Professor at Duke University.

Arti K. Rai is the Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law and Faculty Director of The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law. Rai is an internationally recognized expert in intellectual property law, innovation policy, administrative law and health law. Rai regularly testifies before Congress and relevant administrative bodies on innovation-related law and policy issues and regularly advises federal and state agencies on such issues. She is a member of multiple distinguished councils, including the National Academies’ Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation, the Polaris Advisory Council to the Government Accountability Office, and the American Law Institute.  She has also served as a member of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and on numerous National Academies committees.

Andrea Taylor leads a portfolio of global innovation programs focused on evaluation, scaling, and adaptation of healthcare innovations to address critical access and quality challenges. She currently leads research Covid-19 vaccine procurement and manufacturing globally as part of the Launch and Scale Speedometer project. Andrea also leads research for the USAID-funded Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD). Her work with the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare drives evidence-based recommendations for scaling transformative models of care, adapting models into new contexts, and facilitating system change.

Dr. Morena Makhoana is Chief Executive Officer of Biovac, a bio-pharmaceutical company based in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Makhoana is a medical graduate of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. He joined Biovac in 2004. Prior to his CEO role at Biovac, he held the roles of Deputy CEO and Medical Affairs Director at Biovac.  His mandate is to build vaccine manufacturing capacity in Southern Africa through Biovac. Under Dr. Makhoana, Biovac secured two successful technology transfers with global pharmaceutical companies, such as Sanofi and Pfizer, and has increased staff from 24 to over 340 employees.

About the "Global Challenges and the COVID Vaccine" Series

The development of safe and effective vaccines to protect against COVID-19 offers the brightest hope of ending a pandemic that has dramatically impacted the world. But many questions remain about how vaccines will be allocated, distributed, administered and accepted in countries of all income levels. This monthly webinar series will share global perspectives on these challenges and offer timely assessment of progress in the campaign to vaccinate people around the world.

View events in this series:

• January 19, 2021 - The Race for Vaccine Equity
• February 23, 2021 - Overcoming Vaccine Hesitancy
• March 16, 2021 - What’s the price tag and who will pay?
• April 20, 2021 - Manufacturing and Supply
• May 18, 2021 - The View from Africa