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Coronavirus vaccine
OpinionComment
Kenny Shui
Arthur Tsang
Kenny ShuiandArthur Tsang

Opinion | Tale of two vaccines: AstraZeneca’s road to success offers lessons for Hong Kong’s biotech ambitions

  • An HKU team was one of the first to come up with a potential vaccine, but its bumpy development process makes one thing clear: Hong Kong has the talent but not the ecosystem to bring biotechnological breakthroughs to market

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A nurse prepares a booster dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine during a vaccination drive for people over 60, in Mexicali, Mexico, on January 3. Fast-tracked regulatory approval and the ability to run clinical trials concurrently helped ensure the vaccine was developed for use within a year. Photo: Reuters
Kenny ShuiandArthur Tsang

Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, vaccine development is a race against time in which we all have a stake.

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The development time for vaccines from bench to bedside is normally 10 to 15 years. Yet, with the great effort of scientists all over the world, multiple Covid-19 vaccines were developed within one to two years.

As reported recently, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, in particular, has probably saved more lives than any other, with nearly 2.5 billion doses administered, more than any other vaccine, two-thirds of which have gone to low- and lower-middle-income countries.

First approved for use by British regulators in December 2020, the vaccine was developed in less than a year. As the unsung heroes behind the vaccine said, strong execution and concurrent administration of vaccine development procedures were key levers.

Mexican Red Cross paramedics receive booster shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 6. Nearly 2.5 billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered worldwide, as of December 14, more than any other Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Reuters
Mexican Red Cross paramedics receive booster shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 6. Nearly 2.5 billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered worldwide, as of December 14, more than any other Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: Reuters

On prototyping the vaccine, animal tests in mice and non-human primates were conducted concurrently. Meanwhile, Phase I trials had already been planned and manufacturing for the pilot batches of vaccines for human trials was under way during preclinical studies.

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