Data Analysis: Vaccine development

Views on the the development of diagnostics, vaccination and treatment of COVID-19 and the long term impacts

49% of respondents' organizations are working on the development of diagnostics, vaccination or treatment of COVID-19

"Is your company/organization working in any way on the development of
diagnostics, vaccination or treatment of COVID-19?"

Impressively, almost half of respondents' organizations are working on the development of diagnostics, vaccination or treatment of COVID-19 in some way. This shows quite how widespread the industry response to the pandemic has been.

Overall, this is slightly up on 2020 (data from the April 2020 Informa Connect Life Sciences study), though when breaking it down by region, there has been a big jump in Europe from 38% in 2020 to 51% in 2021, and in Asia - 31% to 53%.

There has been an increase in the number of those working on vaccine development since 2020

"Is your company/organization working in any way on the development of
diagnostics, vaccination or treatment of COVID-19?"

Breaking down the data on those working on diagnostics, vaccination or treatment of COVID-19, there is a fairly even split between the three currently.

Whilst the number working on diagnostics and treatment has remained steady since 2020, there has been an increase from 19% to 26% of those working on vaccines - perhaps as the number of vaccines approved and going through trials has increased in the last 12 months.

Vaccine approval, production and roll out is
ahead of expectation for 51% of respondents

"How quickly has vaccine approval production and roll out in your region/country
gone compared to what you expected?"

Our April 2020 study found that respondents thought on average that the first vaccine for COVID-19 would take 14 months to be approved in their region, and 18 months for it to be made widely available to the population. This proved pessimistic, with vaccines being offered to the population in the US and much of Europe within 12 months of the study. It is therefore unsurprising to see that more than half of respondents now think vaccine approval, production and roll out is ahead of their expectation.

94% think that the COVID-19 vaccine response will have a long term impact on drug development and approval

"In what areas do you think the COVID-19 vaccine response will have a long
term impact for drug development and approval?"

COVID-19 vaccines were approved in record time, faster than many thought was possible, and there is the hope that future drug development can replicate it to some extent.

Indeed, 94% of respondents think that there will be long term impacts, with accelerated regulatory approval (65%), increased collaboration (57%) and clinical trials (53%) the areas most ecpected to change.

Respondents are split on their opinion of the
proposed suspension of vaccine patents

"What is your opinion of the proposed suspension of vaccine patents?"

In May 2020, the Biden administration tentatively backed an Intellectual Property waiver on COVID-19 vaccine patents following a push by India, South Africa and a number of other countries. Respondents are split remarkably evenly in their view of this, with 43% opposed to it, 37% supportive of it and a further 20% unsure.

88% think that with mRNA delivery systems being used for vaccines, mRNA will now be used more frequently in therapies

"With mRNA delivery systems being used for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do you think mRNA
will now be used more frequently in the development of therapies?"

Two of the earliest and most widely manufactured vaccines - produced by Pfizer and Moderna - rely on mRNA delivery systems.

88% of respondents believe that such success and global exposure has the potential to increase the use of mRNA in the development of therapies.

Looking more closely at how the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will impact the process of future product development and manufacture, more than half of respondents think it will lead to accelerated regulatory approval (61%), changes to manufacturing (59%) and drug delivery (58%), and the development of risk-share models for new vaccines or therapeutic development (56%).

97% think that the development of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will impact future product development and manufacture

"In what ways do you think the development of the COVID mRNA vaccines will impact
the process of future product development and manufacture?"