The scientific world discusses the vaccine development processes at BioExpo
17.11.2021
Vaccine Symposium with the theme of «General and Pandemic Period Specific Vaccine Development Processes» was held within BioExpo, Turkey’s largest meeting on life scienceswith the contributions of the Health Institutes of Turkey (TÜSEB), the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).
Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (AIFD) organized a panel session titled “Evaluation of Different Vaccine (Immunization) Approaches in the Prevention of Future Global Pandemics” .
BioExpo, Turkey’s largest meeting in the field of life sciences, was held on 7-8th October 2021 this year. This year, vaccines were the topic of Bioexpo, which was held in Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar with the institutional contributions of TİTCK, TÜSEB and TÜBİTAK, and the scientific cooperation of Marmara University Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.
The Vaccine Symposium, which drew a great deal of attention from undergraduate and graduate students as well as academics, became the meeting point of all stakeholders in the sector.
One of the speakers at the “Vaccine Development Processes and Regulations in Turkey and the World” session held on October 7, 2021 within the scope of the Vaccine Symposium, General Secretary of the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (AIFD) Dr. Ümit Dereli stated that vaccine production is a challenging process. Dereli indicated, “Depending on the number of antigens in its content, vaccine production can be even more complex, and the production process alone can take up to three years. The quality control process, which accounts for 70 percent of the entire production process, may require more than a hundred tests to be performed for a vaccine.”
Stating that Turkey’s competencies such as vaccine filling capacity, cold chain monitoring, cold room and optical control have become robust thanks to the technology transfers, Dereli also emphasizes that Turkey has highly qualified employment.
AIFD Secretary General Dr. Ümit Dereli expressed that vaccination of an individual in a developed country makes a positive contribution of 2 thousand 900 dollars to the economy, drawing attention to the economic output of vaccination. Highlighting the global collaborations on clinical trials for vaccines, Dereli added, “These trials are carried out in many countries. Similarly, clinical trials have been conducted in Turkey for a number of vaccines. Today, for one of the most widely applied vaccines, 280 ingredients used in production are sourced from 19 different countries and there are 214 global agreements for technology transfer. Thanks to these global collaborations, the global vaccine production capacity, which was 3.5 billion doses before the pandemic, will reach 11 billion doses by the end of this year.”
On the second day of the Vaccine Symposium, the session titled “Evaluation of Different Vaccine (Immunization) Approaches in the Prevention of Future Global Pandemics”, chaired by AIFD Secretary General Dr. Ümit Dereli and Prof. Dr. Serhat Ünal, hosted prominent speakers such as Prof. Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccine Science at Oxford University and Co-Founder of Vaccitech, who developed the Oxford vaccine, Dr. Jacqueline Miller, Chairperson and Senior Vice Chairperson of Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Field at Moderna, Dr. Jamie Oliver Vigueras, Senior Medical Director of Janssen EMEA Emerging Markets, and Dr. Yongjun Gao, Director of Medical Affairs at Sinovac BioTech.
Prof. Dr. Serhat Ünal commented that, “We are going through hard times because of the pandemic, but of course, we have learned a lot during this process. Thanks to science, highly effective vaccines have been developed. We have achieved this in just one year, and we have generated effective and safe vaccines. Today we are together to talk about these vaccines.”
During the session, Prof. Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccine Science at Oxford University and Co-Founder of Vaccitech, who developed the Oxford vaccine, Dr. Jacqueline Miller, Chairperson and Senior Vice Chairperson of Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Field at Moderna, Dr. Jamie Oliver Vigueras, Senior Medical Director of Janssen EMEA Emerging Markets, and Dr. Yongjun Gao, Director of Medical Affairs at Sinovac BioTech shared their own experiences.