Takeda CEO urges transparency in virus vaccine rollout
21 December, 2020
Pharmaceutical firms should be "very transparent" about the risks and benefits associated with vaccines in efforts to get rid of the coronavirus pandemic, the head of Asia's major drugmaker has told AFP.
Takeda, among the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, isn't developing its vaccine but has contracts with several companies to distribute their jabs in Japan and is also testing a virus treatment.
"We must manage the problem well, be very transparent and extremely educative in the manner we introduce products," leader Christophe Weber told AFP within an interview.
"Medicines or vaccines are never perfect... there are always some unwanted effects," said Weber, who joined Takeda in 2014 and took the top job a year later after nearly two decades at Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
But he's optimistic the industry can make clear the risks and benefits properly.
The Frenchman even sees a chance that the inoculation may help push back the growing tide of uncertainty and outright opposition to vaccination worldwide.
"It will be interesting to see. Vaccine hesitancy is strong, especially in some countries, but many vaccines are avoiding diseases that persons never see," he said. "Here it's different, everyone is seeing the impact of the coronavirus... so it could actually re-demonstrate the worthiness of vaccines."
Takeda signed a handle japan government and U.S. firm Moderna Therapeutics in October to import and distribute 50 million doses of its vaccine in Japan from the first part of 2021.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency authorization for the Moderna jab -- the same permission already granted to the Pfizer/BioNTech version.
Takeda in addition has signed a handle U.S. biotech firm Novavax to create and deliver its vaccine in Japan, if ongoing clinical trials prove successful.
However the firm -- which became among the world's greatest pharma companies after its 2019 purchase of Ireland's Shire -- has decided not to develop its coronavirus jab.
"When we assessed the problem and the technology that people have in-house, we felt we did not have the very best technology to build up a vaccine," Weber said.
Japan's pharmaceutical sector has moved comparatively slowly in the race to end the pandemic, even though companies including AnGes, Shionogi and Daiichi Sankyo are actually developing vaccines, they aren't expected to be available before 2022 at the initial.
The united states has however secured doses from players abroad, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
"There is absolutely no leading vaccine player in Japan," said Weber, adding that Takeda hopes to develop in that direction, including with plans for a dengue vaccine.
He believes Japan's biotech sector is less developed than that in the U.S. since the country lacks the "vibrant spin-off mechanism" to greatly help scientific research groups grow into successful start-ups.
"In Japan, scientific research and academia is strong, but there is a lot less in the way of spin-offs and capital raising," he said.
"We have to make more efforts to create this ecosystem in Japan," he added, pointing to an open innovation research facility Takeda founded in 2018 that houses 70 companies, including young biotech firms.
Even though it has shied from coronavirus vaccines, Takeda has been focusing on a plasma therapy to take care of the brand new respiratory disease in collaboration with a global alliance of drug manufacturers.
Called CoVIg-19, the procedure uses concentrated and purified antibodies taken from patients who have battled the coronavirus.
Weber expects clinical trial results for the procedure to be published early next year and says a timeframe for this to hit the market "will all rely upon the data".
He's not concerned that the arrival of multiple vaccines renders the treatment irrelevant, warning "we shouldn't drop the ball and assume vaccines will resolve everything".
"The vaccines don't have 100 percent efficacy," he said, adding that how long they protect for remains unclear and that some patients suffer conditions which prevent them from getting inoculated.
Vaccinating the complete world is also going to be considered a lengthy process, Weber stressed. "There is still a great dependence on efficient treatments."
Source: japantoday.com
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