As India celebrates the 30th anniversary of its Department of Biotechnology (DBT), it simultaneously crowns this achievement with the knowledge that the remedy for one of the deadliest diseases on the planet at the moment could be coming out of a city called Hyderabad, in the country, soon. This remedy is what The Economic Times is hailing as the “Zika biotech moment for India,” particularly in light of the fact that India has no obvious stake in the matter. In India, there have been zero recorded cases of the Zika virus that is steadily making its way across the Western Hemisphere – and possibly, the entire previously unaffected globe – since it showed up in Brazil, back in May 2015.
The world needs protection from the Zika virus, if for no other reason, but for the victims who carry the strongest evidence of the disease. According to the BBC these victims are the babies born with Microcephaly, most prominently in South America. Although there is still a debate between scientists concerning whether the birth deformity is a direct consequence of the Zika virus or Larvicide (the latest theory that has been put forward as part of the efforts to establish the scientific cause of Microcephaly), the astonishing number of babies born with the deformity following the outbreak of Zika virus, in Brazil alone, serves to provide an immediate link. According to Dr. Tom Achoki, Director of African Initiatives for the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE):
“The key is to seek to understand the biology of the virus and its effects such that different actors including pharma come up with effective solutions. Right now, there is very limited information about the virus and its effects to come up with a clear road map for action. By all we know, there might be no link between this virus and microcephaly.”
On the other hand, vaccines to protect individuals from the disease around the globe are a necessity and this is mostly because the longer term effects of contracting the virus are still unknown and are likely to pose a scarier threat. So, the race for a vaccine intensifies, with India seemingly in the lead. But what journey led the country to this point? And what could be the implications of their being the first to develop a vaccine to solve a problem in the West for the world of scientific and pharmaceutical exploits?
Currently, over 1.3 million people in Brazil are living with the virus and its spread through most of Latin America to North America, with 50 known cases currently in the United States, reinforces the need for global intervention in curtailing the spread to other parts of the world. As expected in the midst of such a health crisis, all eyes turn to scientists and pharmaceutical industries in the more developed countries to save the day. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the earliest hope for salvation might not be coming from the Western part of the globe this time – India is ‘almost’ ready with ‘Zikavac.’
Even as Bharat Biotechnologies prepares to enter the clinical trials phase of its development of its latest discovery and the United States President Barack Obama is calling for a $1.8 billion funding towards combatting the disease, amongst other offensive measures taken against the disease in recent months, the closest useable vaccine for the Zika virus is projected to be about three years off, while the furthest could be an alarming 20 years from now. Two main reasons are responsible for this delay: the due – gradual – process that must be followed by scientists currently developing vaccines in the pharmaceutical industry and the precarious nature of the Zika virus itself that caused the industry to underestimate the extent of damage that it could cause to humans.
How the Zika virus ‘tricked’ the world
The Zika virus takes its name from the Zika forest in the south of Uganda. It was first discovered after a sample of the virus was collected from a rhesus monkey in 1947, as part of a scientific study being conducted at the time. For decades, it appeared that humans within and outside of the African continent had nothing to fear from its existence.
Thus, even after the virus spread to Asia and the Pacific regions, it was not treated with any medical urgency in most parts of the world where it was classified as a mild form of fever. When it was eventually discovered in Brazil, the health minister of the country responded by stating “Zika doesn’t worry us. It’s a benign disease.” Additionally, a virologist with the Federal University of Bahia heaved a sigh of relief that it was in fact Zika that was responsible for the worrisome symptoms that they were witnessing at the time, and not one of the popularly aggressive diseases, such as Dengue hemorrhagic fever, that Brazil is rife with.
This kind of disposition to the Zika virus, in conjunction with the fact that the virus has not been the cause of any major epidemics before the late 2000s, is largely responsible for global pharmaceutical response to the Zika virus in the past. After its discovery back in 1947, scientists neglected to invest in the research necessary to eliminate any potential threats to humans from the virus. They failed to do this despite evidence which showed the virus as volatile, given how it shifted between vectors and that its volatility presented them with a key to unlock an easier process to vaccine discovery.
But India – Bharat Biotech International Limited, to be precise – apparently saw the bigger picture where it seemed there was none.
In 1996, Krishna Ella, a molecular biologist and the Chairman of Bharat Biotech established his startup company to produce vaccines to combat life-threatening diseases. The breakout of a bone-breaking fever known as Chikungunya which sprung up in India in 2006 became a cause for concern for Ella who predicted that if Chikungunya could cross the ocean to infect Indians, other diseases such as the Zika virus could do so, especially since the vector of both diseases was the same – the Aedes mosquito. Ella and his team of researchers, led by a Dr. Sumathy, decided to take precautionary steps against this possibility by investing in creating a vaccine that travellers could use to protect themselves against the disease as well as prevent its spread. Bharat needed to officially import samples of the virus in order to conduct their tests and experiments, as they were none on Indian soil. Their efforts put India nearly 18 months ahead of the rest of the world, with the development of ‘Zikavac’ which is now ready for clinical trials.
What the West is presently up to
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates four million Zika cases in the Americas by 2017. Meanwhile, the organisation acknowledged India’s development of a vaccine for the Zika virus by stating that it would examine Bharat’s vaccine candidate from a scientific point of view as well as the feasibility of taking the trials forward. Currently, the organisation disclosed its considerations towards producing genetically modified mosquitoes to fight the virus. This involves releasing male mosquitoes that have been made sterile through the administration of low doses of radiation to mate with Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes, causing the population of this species of insects to die out.
However, environmentalists opine that such a move could account for the total elimination of the mosquito population, as the impacts of using genetically modified mosquitoes in disease warfare remain unpredictable.
The United States’ National Institute for Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is now working towards early-stage human trials from animal trials in its development of a vaccine, by researching and investigating previous flavivirus vaccines such as that were developed to treat the West Nile Virus. Anthony Fauci, NIAID’s Director, discloses that biotech and pharmaceutical companies are approaching his department of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with partnership offers to develop a Zika virus vaccine.
Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who leads the WHO’s Zika virus vaccine initiative, backs The NIAID Director’s claim by stating that close to 15 companies have been identified, while observing that the landscape for vaccine development is rapidly evolving. Despite this evolution, large-scale trials remain several months away and it is not yet certain when the first commercial and independently validated diagnostics tests will be available.
What India’s achievement means for Africa and the rest of the world
Dr. Achoki posits that, while India’s strides in putting forward a pharmaceutical solution for the Zika virus is a testament that health technologies are increasingly being developed in the East (as displayed by Sanofi and a number of South Korean groups as well), their achievement is generally encouraging for global health. According to him, although the Zika virus in itself is not life-threatening given its circulation in parts of Africa without serious health consequences, countries might have been missing important links with the disease that could cause public health implications. Therefore, he advices that surveillance systems including laboratory capacity, analytics and information sharing for effective responses need to be strengthened.
Speaking on how the Zika virus vaccines would fare in global pharmaceutical markets, Dr. Achoki states that based on the erstwhile lack of interest in Zika and the research for a vaccine, commercial viability would depend on if strong links are made between the virus and fatal effects on the human body, such as microcephaly. Another deadly effect linked with contracting the virus, known as the Guillain-Barre Syndrome, has been associated with adults,and the syndrome presents a neurological problem that may lead to paralysis in infected adults. Experts suggest that more information should be collected on the Zika virus before making big investments in a bioscience or pharmaceutical response that might be misplaced and all responses need to be based on medical and scientific evidence.
This piece was produced by Ventures Africa in partnership with The Africa Expert Network (AXN) to provide unique insider commentary from practitioners and subject matter specialists.
