Medicago’s vaccine rejected by WHO
Canada’s first domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine may be a public health triumph, but a link to the tobacco industry may prevent international emergency use (1,230 words, 6 minutes)
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Medicago Inc., the Quebec City-based biopharma, announced on Feb. 24 that Health Canada had approved Covifenz, a Covid-19 vaccine. The two-dose vaccine is the only one developed in Canada and is also the first to be entirely plant-based. However, the vaccine has been rejected by the World Health Organization [WHO] because tobacco company Philip Morris Inc. is a minority Medicago shareholder. The UN agency has a strict policy against any engagement with the tobacco industry.
Covifenz is the first plant-produced virus-like particle [VLP]-based Covid-19 vaccine. According to Medicago, living plants are cultivated to manufacture VLPs that mimic the structure of viruses. Clinical trials showed the vaccine produced in Durham, N.C. was 71 per cent effective in protecting trial participants aged 18 to 64 years against Covid-19.
The Canadian federal government signed a contract with Medicago to buy up to 76 million doses with plans to donate vaccines to low-income countries.
However, according to Mariângela Simão, WHO’s assistant director-general for drug access, vaccines and pharmaceuticals, it is unlikely the vaccine will be accepted for international emergency use.
“Due to its connections— [Medicago is] partially owned by Philip Morris—so the process is put on hold,” she said during a media briefing.
“It's well known the WHO and the UN have a very strict policy regarding engagement with the tobacco and arms industries, so the process is put on hold. It's very likely [the vaccine] won’t be accepted for emergency use listing.”
According to WHO guidelines, “There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests.”
Others are critical of Philip Morris’ involvement in public health.
Joanna Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, said in a blog post: “By collaborating with Philip Morris on its own vaccine candidate, the Government of Canada is demonstrating a complete disregard for its treaty obligations under the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control [FCTC].”
The FCTC is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO and provides an internationally coordinated response to combating the tobacco epidemic.
“Moreover, the government appears to be turning a blind eye to the tobacco industry and the pandemic of eight million deaths annually that it is fueling,” Cohen said.
The WHO’s decision halted Canada’s plan to donate extra doses. According to Montreal infectious disease specialist Dr. Matthew Oughton: “Without WHO approval, it will be much more difficult to deliver the vaccines in low- and middle-income countries.” He also noted that around 85 per cent of these populations have not received even a single dose of any Covid vaccine.
The Quebec government is also willing to help Medicago replace its minority shareholder and obtain WHO approval for the vaccine. Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said in a statement: “Medicago is a fine Quebec company. They have several structuring development plans. So, I want to see Medicago be committed to Quebec as they are. If to achieve this, we can facilitate the purchase of Philip Morris' shares, we will do it.”
THIS WEEK 08/16/22
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Taro Pharmaceuticals is recalling all lots of Taro-Zoledronic acid injection 5 mg/100 mL (DIN 02415100) because they may contain particulate matter. Zoledronic acid is a prescription therapy used to treat and prevent osteoporosis and treat Paget's disease.
LISTEN NOW
In season seven of the NPC Podcast, Michael Stone, General Manager for Canada of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, talks about taking on a leadership role during the pandemic, attracting younger, tech-savvy talent and the relevance of an education degree in pharma. Hear him in conversation with podcast hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they represent a cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honoree each week.
2004 Inductee
John Stewart
Pickering, Ont.
Editor’s note: John is now retired.
John Stewart says he is probably best known for being around the healthcare industry “for a long period of time.” But to many in the industry, his most significant achievement has been raising Purdue Pharma's profile during his 30-year career with the company. Stewart notes that when he first joined the company fresh out of grad school, Canadian sales hovered around $1 million
annually. “This year we will do, give or take a few million dollars, $200 million,” he reports. In association with that increase, the company has bumped up its capabilities and functions, including Rx&D development, a fully capable manufacturing operation, and, “more traditional to Canada,” medical sales and scientific departments. “The Canadian organization has moved from one that was originally very small and one of the countries that would have been listed under the category ‘all others’ to the third largest group right now in terms of revenue,” he says.
Stewart explains that the platform on which the company built much of its success was the long-acting opioid, MSContin. In the early ‘80s, the product gained rapid acceptance with the palliative care movement in the UK. The clinical research operations were subsequently picked up by the Canadian arm under Stewart who was then vice president of scientific affairs, and the product went to market in 1986. “It was quite an achievement to see that the Canadian organization could add all the value that it did,” says Stewart, who also observes, “we did substantially more clinical research than had been required in the UK, and many of the Canadian trials were used by our US company to get the product approved there.” On the patient side, “to hear the lead investigators, and then patients themselves, say that this is the greatest breakthrough in analgesic products in the last 20 years was both reassuring and good news,” he adds.
These days, much of Stewart’s time is devoted to Rx&D, a cause he’s been active in throughout his career, most notably as the former chair of Rx&D’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, past chair of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) Committee, and a member of the National Political Action Plan (NAP) Committee. He sees his role on the board as helping “like-minded others” make a significant difference to the issues facing Rx&D. “I am a scientist by nature as well as having been in marketin.g and sales, and I can talk about pharmaceuticals and the therapeutic benefits they provide. In that position, I am very willing to wade into the healthcare debate wherever it is about the appropriate role of drug therapies in the healthcare industry.”
Register now for the NPC End-of-Summer Webinar on Sept. 7 at 11:00 a.m
As we wrap up the summer of 2022 and new challenges emerge, the National Pharmaceutical Congress invites you to our End-of-Summer #webinar on Sept. 7: "With Covid in the Rear-View: The Way We Live Now." Speakers will include Eileen McMahon of Torys LLP, Mark Smithyes, MBA, and other Life Sci leaders. Ben Parry of The Pangaea Group and Mitch Shannon of Chronicle Companies will share moderating duties.
The event will also provide a preview of the 16th annual NPC, which will be live on Nov. 2 at the Mississauga Convention Centre.
The last NPC webinar was attended by more than 250 pharma industry delegates, so register today before all spaces are filled. The event is free. See you in September. Register at this link: https://lnkd.in/g5pPFTYg
NEXT WEEK
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