The creation of a vaccine against coronavirus in such a record short time would not have been possible without cooperation and the use of the latest technologies, including artificial intelligence. Thanks to the interaction of the German biotechnology firm BioNTech with the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, it was possible in 10 months to do what it previously took an average of seven years: to develop a vaccine, conduct clinical trials, obtain regulatory approval and launch it on the market.
Alexander Nuiken
Such cooperation of large pharmaceutical concerns with innovative biotechnology firms will continue after the coronavirus pandemic. The authors of the report of the consulting firm EY Klaus Ort and Alexander Nuyken are convinced of this.
And it is the experience of developing a vaccine in record time that will radically change the approach to scientific research in the future. In June 2021, Ort and Nuiken point out, 260 vaccines and 506 coronavirus drugs were at various stages of development or already on the market. And more than 1000 tests have already been created to establish the presence of an infection in the human body.
The fight against cancer will remain the main focus
In 2020, the covid pandemic has significantly changed the focus of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Thus, 80 percent of clinical studies not related to the development of drugs against COVID-19 have been suspended. However, the fight against the coronavirus has not fundamentally changed the course of the pharmaceutical industry. As before, the most important developments are considered to be anti-cancer drugs, which ensured the maximum turnover for the enterprises of the industry in 2020.
Cancer cells
In general, the coronavirus pandemic noticeably slowed down the growth of the leaders of the global pharmaceutical industry last year. Compared to others, this industry, however, grew: with a global economic downturn of 3.5 percent, the turnover of the 21 largest pharmaceutical firms increased by 4.4 percent. But a year earlier, this growth was 12.8 percent.
For their report, experts from EY analyzed the financial statements of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and additionally included in their review data from the German company Merck KGaA, which is of great importance in the markets of Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
The global pharmaceutical market is dominated by US firms
The study highlighted the dominant positions of American drug manufacturers: last year, they accounted for more than half of the total turnover in the global pharmaceutical market – 51 percent.
Pfizer Headquarters in New York
However, the numbers change frequently from year to year as a result of splits, mergers and acquisitions, or the dizzying success of a single drug. This explains the 12.8 percent growth in turnover of 21 firms in 2019: that year, the Japanese drug and vaccine manufacturer Takeda acquired the Irish firm Shire, which immediately secured it a place in the top ten. Therefore, comparing the indicators of 2019 with 4.4 percent of 2020 is not entirely correct.
More examples: Pfizer was the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world in 2019. But then he decoupled from its subsidiary Upjohn and immediately dropped to sixth place. And the New York-based Bristol-Meyer-Squibb, known under the BMS brand, increased its turnover by 10 billion euros at once thanks to one single new cancer drug.
What will happen to the industry next?
There are currently four coronavirus vaccines approved in the EU. According to EY, 17 more candidate vaccines are in the final third phase of clinical trials and will soon be eligible for approval. In total, there are 260 vaccine developments in the world, most of which, however, according to Alexander Nuiken, will never appear on the market.
Coronavirus vaccines
Due to the spread of new variants of the coronavirus, the development of new vaccines will continue to receive great attention, but, according to the expert, only drugs in the second or third phase of clinical trials have a chance to enter the market. However, it will remain important to develop the molecular testing procedures needed to find new variants of the virus that will benefit manufacturers of diagnostic devices.
The situation in pharmaceuticals was influenced primarily by the breakthrough in mRNA technology, which was used in the development of their vaccines by BioNTech and Moderna. And also – the realization of the fact that success in such a record short time is possible only with cooperation and the use of new technological solutions.
Therefore, Nuiken expects that in the future there will be more cooperation in research and development, and large pharmaceutical companies will begin to actively acquire the know-how of small biotech firms. And since this pandemic, according to EY experts, is not the last, the importance of the multi-billion dollar vaccine market will only grow.
The mRNA vaccine patent controversy is a waste of time
Nuiken considers the controversy over the cancellation of vaccine patents a waste of time. The notion that high-tech mRNA vaccines can be copied and produced anywhere in the world is completely wrong.
Even if we do not take into account the complexity of organizing two vaccinations at regular intervals, developing countries simply do not have an operating cold chain that is necessary to supply vaccine sites with vaccine, the expert points out. Therefore, he believes, poor countries need traditional vector vaccines, in particular, a drug from Johnson & Johnson, which only needs to be injected once.
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