Sanofi science chief on Zika: It’s time to disrupt traditional vaccine development

The World Health Organization has warned that the Zika R&D frenzy may not culminate in a vaccine in time for the current outbreak, but Sanofi Chief Scientific Officer Gary Nabel won’t take that for an answer. Nabel says it can be done, but it means turning the traditional vaccine development model on its head. In an interview with Stat, Nabel highlighted that the classic response to emerging and infectious diseases, such as MERS and Ebola, has been inadequate. “We just run from one crisis to another. … That’s no way to protect the world’s population,” he said. The traditional vaccine development timeline typically takes 5 years or more to produce a marketable vaccine, encompassing the development of candidates, identifying which of the candidates to move forward with, preclinical trials, human clinical trials and finally regulatory filing. To have a chance at accelerating this for emerging diseases, biotechs and pharmas, regulators and government...