Les Entreprises à Succès - Forbes // CANSINOBIO
Expert dans la conception de vaccins humains — dont le tout premier vaccin contre le coronavirus à inhaler — la société chinoise CanSinoBIO apporte son expertise et son savoir-faire pour développer de nouveaux dispositifs médicaux innovants. L’entreprise s’appuie aujourd’hui sur le transfert des technologies, avec l’ambition de rendre accessibles ses vaccins à un maximum de populations, notamment au sein des pays émergents.
Transcript
00:00 Hello everyone and welcome to the Peninsula in Paris for a new release of our show.
00:04 Welcome to you Pierre Morgon.
00:05 Thank you Jessie.
00:06 So you are the Managing Director EROB of CanSino Bio,
00:10 a company dedicated to establishing mass immune protection to the global population, right?
00:16 That is correct. CanSino is specialized in human vaccines
00:19 and we are focused in delivering quality vaccines for the low-income countries.
00:24 Well, let's have a seat. I can't wait to know more about that.
00:27 With pleasure.
00:27 Let's go.
00:29 [Music]
00:41 Pierre, you have over 35 years of experience in the global life science industry,
00:46 especially in specialty care, vaccines and immunotherapy.
00:51 Please tell us about your background and why are you so passionate about working on public health, please?
00:57 Well, thank you Jessie. Maybe starting with the beginning,
01:01 I actually first studied pharmacy and during my doctorate I worked for three years in a university hospital,
01:08 then moved on first to law school and business school,
01:11 and then fast forward 35 plus years in the life science industry,
01:15 and in the process getting about 20 years in vaccines either as an executive or as a board director.
01:22 But 10 years ago I decided I had enough of corporate life as an executive,
01:27 did more advisory roles and board roles,
01:30 and one of those board roles in a vaccine company evolved again into an executive role at CanSino Bio,
01:37 where I'm today managing Europe, portfolio strategy, and the relationship with the supranational organizations.
01:46 It's a very beautiful experience.
01:48 CanSino Bio has been founded in China in 2009 and since it has developed five platform technologies.
01:55 What do they consist of and what attributes and values inspired you to work for them?
02:02 Well, let me start with the last part of your question.
02:05 Actually, the company was founded by real vaccine experts who have spent their entire lives in this business.
02:11 So this is what gives the DNA of the organization.
02:15 We are committed to inventing and manufacturing vaccines for the low-income countries with the utmost respect for quality.
02:25 The five platforms include protein expression systems for the protein-based vaccines, glycoconjugate vaccines,
02:34 viral vectors, RNA, and adjuvants.
02:39 And with all this, the company, even though it is mid-size, has the ability to play against every known bacteriological or virological target.
02:50 All right. So which values you found in it?
02:54 Well, the company, again, as I said, is really committed to inventing those vaccines.
02:59 Some of them are actually addressing an unmet need because the existing vaccines are not available,
03:04 either in sufficient quantities or at low enough prices.
03:08 And in some other cases, the company is really inventing groundbreaking products.
03:14 One example is, and I'm very proud of this one, this company has been inventing and launching the first ever inhaled vaccine.
03:25 Not intranasal, OK? Inhaled. Something that you inhale through the mouth that gets into your lungs and that creates local immunity in addition to circulating immunity.
03:36 So you are protected against the respiratory pathogens at the point of entry.
03:41 So the innovation part is very important.
03:44 Absolutely.
03:45 All right. I guess public health can't do anything on its own.
03:49 What is required to accelerate development and improve access and affordability in low and middle income countries for you?
03:58 It's really a combination of things. And really the first thing that we should consider is what makes a vaccine acceptable.
04:05 Not only acceptable by the authorities, because that we know, you have to demonstrate that it is efficacious and safe,
04:10 but you have to make it acceptable to the end user, most of them being babies, meaning it has to be acceptable to the parents.
04:19 Then it has to be accessible. Cold chain comes into play. Ease of use comes into play.
04:26 It has to be available. You need to produce it in sufficient quantities.
04:30 Otherwise, you know, typically the low income countries get served last.
04:35 And the situation during the COVID pandemic was a good illustration of that.
04:40 And lastly, as you were saying, you have to make sure that the vaccines are affordable,
04:44 meaning you need to produce them at a low enough cost of production so that you can sell it at an affordable price to the countries
04:54 or to the organization that cater to the needs of the countries that cannot afford to buy the vaccines themselves.
05:00 All right. That's very interesting. And I guess you need partners to develop yourself.
05:06 That is correct. We need partners also because we are not as big as the multinational companies.
05:13 So we're still growing the organization. And we have a policy of partnering, essentially with local players.
05:23 We do have partners also with the academic world, across the world, so that we are connected both on the sourcing of innovation,
05:34 but also on commercial partners that have the local ability to register the product with the local authorities and then commercialize them.
05:44 So are they also investors?
05:47 They are not necessarily investors in the company. They're investors in the execution of the access of our vaccines in the country.
05:56 At times, this investment could take the shape of investing in manufacturing platforms,
06:02 where at times it is a good way to solve the access and the affordability equation by localizing production,
06:14 where the population that's going to use the vaccine is.
06:18 So instead of having a small number of large manufacturing units, we are moving towards a world where you would have a larger number of smaller manufacturing units,
06:30 more agile, creating an ability to react faster, and also shortening the supply chain.
06:37 Again, the pandemic was a good illustration of the bottlenecks that were created by a small number of production units localized only in Western countries.
06:48 Thank you very much, Pierre Margon. It was a pleasure to have you here, and it was such a very interesting interview.
06:53 Thank you, Jessie. The pleasure was all mine.
06:55 And see you very soon, everyone, for a new release of our show.
06:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]