November 2023 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 14-15
// BUSINESS INSIGHT //
Vaccine visionaries
Pierre Morgon is Executive Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Supranational Affairs, as well as Managing Director Europe, at CanSino Biologics
CanSinoBIO is an industry-leading biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the mission of developing, producing and commercialising innovative, high-quality vaccines at affordable prices. Above all the company is focused on ensuring accessibility for people living in countries that need them most.
Pierre Morgon, Executive Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Supranational Affairs, and Managing Director Europe, at CanSinoBIO, explains: “In following our company mission, we have established a rich portfolio of vaccines that comprises of affordable versions of existing vaccines as well as innovative vaccines that address unmet medical, technological or policy needs.
“Our proudest achievements to date include the development and commercialisation of vaccines for well-known public health threats such as COVID-19 and Ebola, positively impacting the lives of millions of people,” he adds.
Pierre reflects: “At present, CanSinoBIO is developing and conducting clinical trials of several pipeline products. These include potential first-in-class vaccines in China and globally innovative and potentially best-in-class vaccines.”
“Our current research and development focus is exploring the early-stage development of novel vaccines for more than ten diseases, such as tuberculosis and polio, all of which have the potential to become game changers,” he concludes.
Building global immunity
The CanSinoBIO vision is ‘innovation for a safer world’. It recognises the devastating impact infectious diseases can have on humans and understands that vaccinations are one of the most effective ways we can combat them and protect our future.
One of CanSinoBIO’s central focuses in vaccine development is the mucosal immune system – an integral part of the body’s immune system that operates in the mucosal surfaces of our body, such as the inside of the nose, mouth and intestines.
It comprises the largest immune organ in the body and forms the first line of defence against foreign invaders.
By definition
The mucosal immune system has three main functions:
Using a mucosal route of vaccination has several advantages, but primarily because most infections start from a mucosal surface. By vaccinating through the mucosal route, the immune response is initiated at the entry point, triggering a protective immune response at the site where pathogens are most likely to attack.
Regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, Pierre elaborates: “As we’ve seen firsthand recently, airborne pathogens present the highest risk of human-human spread and, therefore, the highest pandemic potential.
“Inducing a strong and sustainable immune local response (in the airways) – along with a comprehensive circulatory immune response – would be particularly effective to stem the spread of such pathogens.”
‘CanSinoBIO is keen to form compelling partnerships to support its commitment to enhancing the availability of vaccines to low- and middle-income countries’
“In countries where vaccines are not available in sufficient quantities, not easily accessible and/or not affordable, increasing vaccine effectiveness would provide tremendous benefits in terms of public health,” he adds.
Knock-on effect of COVID
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the uptake of basic vaccines was steadily increasing and new vaccines were introduced in lower income countries, largely thanks to the efforts of NGOs such as GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
Pierre describes, however, how the knock-on impact of the pandemic and associated lockdowns has since caused widespread global disruption in routine childhood immunisation services worldwide.
“Although incredible scientists worked round the clock to rapidly develop vaccine solutions, the speed of the development led to hesitancy and concerns about vaccines in general,” he observes.
“As a result, we’re seeing that a substantial number of vulnerable people remain unvaccinated against highly preventable diseases,” he notes. “Diseases like measles and polio require high levels of vaccination coverage to maintain herd immunity and prevent outbreaks, therefore the drop in vaccination levels is leading to growing concerns around the resurgence of such diseases.”
Future-proofing public health
In response to these challenges, CanSinoBIO is keen to form compelling partnerships to support its commitment to enhancing the availability of vaccines and biologics to low- and middle-income countries, as well as to future-proof global public health. Recently, the company announced its agreement with AstraZeneca, which aims to support the research and development of experimental mRNA vaccines.
Pierre explains how governments, healthcare organisations and the pharmaceutical industry, should work together with international bodies to rebuild public health awareness and education around vaccines and strengthen global immunisation programmes to protect not only those at risk, but whole communities worldwide.
“This includes improving access to healthcare services, implementing catch-up vaccination campaigns and re-emphasising the importance of routine immunisations,” says Pierre. “Preventing preventable diseases provides benefits to global health security – reducing the likelihood of pandemics – and economics, as proactive prevention is often more cost saving than treating diseases and their complications reactively.”
He highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the pharmaceutical and vaccines industry’s capacity for rapid response and agility in the face of a global crisis, adding: “the lessons learned from this experience will likely inform future strategies for pandemic preparedness, vaccine development and global health cooperation.”
“For me, personally, making a difference to peoples’ lives by preventing the harm caused by diseases remains my biggest motivator. I am passionate about the work we do at CanSinoBIO, which not only contributes to disease prevention and control, but to overall human health and well-being,” he concludes.
About Pierre Morgon
Pierre A. Morgon is Executive Vice President, Portfolio Strategy and Supranational Affairs, and Managing Director Europe, at CanSino Biologics. He is also CEO of MRGN Advisors and Regional Partner for Switzerland at Merieux Equity Partners, Chairman of the Boards of Eurocine Vaccines, MYCB1, Kupando and Health Technologies Holding, as well as Non-Executive Director to the Boards of Vaccitech, Univercells, Amoeba and Limula.
Pierre has over 35 years of experience in the global life sciences industry, especially with specialty care, vaccines and immunotherapy, at the helm of international operations, in C-level positions at global level in multinational corporations and as CEO of start-up companies.
He is also a lecturer in several MBA programmes and in life sciences conferences, and at the Mass Challenge incubator in Switzerland where he is also a mentor for start-up life sciences companies.
He holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy, a Master in Business Law and an MBA, and he is an alumnus of INSEAD and IMD.
About CanSino Biologics
Incorporated in 2009, CanSinoBIO (SSE: 688185, HKEX: 06185) commits to providing high-quality, innovative and affordable vaccines for global public health security. CanSinoBIO has developed five key platform technologies, including viral vector-based technology, synthetic vaccine technology, protein structure design and recombinant VLP technology, mRNA vaccine technology as well as formulation and delivery technology, upon which the company has established a rich portfolio of pipeline products preventing more than ten diseases, including Asia’s first and only vaccine for Ebola virus disease Ad5-EBOV, the Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) Convidecia® approved in over ten countries and granted EUL by the WHO, Asia’s first Group ACYW135 Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine (CRM197) Menhycia® and the Group A and Group C Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine (CRM197) Menphecia® approved by the NMPA in China. Additional information can be found online at www.cansinotech.com