Luc Gagnon, PhD
Global Head Vaccine Sciences at Nexelis, a Q² Solutions Company
When another pandemic strikes, new technologies and collaborative strategies will be crucial to helping the scientific community develop drugs and vaccines in the fastest way possible.
It’s not a question of ‘if’ another global pandemic will strike, insists Luc Gagnon, PhD — but a question of ‘when.’ “It’s just a matter of time,” he says bluntly. That’s the bad news. The better news is that, when it does come, the scientific community should be better prepared to deal with it, according to Gagnon.
mRNA vaccine development strategies
As Global Head Vaccine Sciences at Nexelis, a Q² Solutions Company — provider of advanced assay development and laboratory testing services for infectious, oncologic and metabolic diseases — Gagnon leads scientific operations supporting vaccines and biologics development for infectious diseases throughout clinical trial phases.
“As a community, we must be able to learn from the past and find new pandemic vaccine solutions in the fastest way possible,” he says. “For example, every large player in this space now has an mRNA strategy in their vaccine portfolio.” This is a transformative technology where scientists use a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA), rather than part (or inactivated) of a bacteria or virus, to produce an immune response.
“It’s a new, fast way of producing a vaccine,” notes Gagnon. “In addition to vaccines, there is the promise of monoclonal antibodies, which can offer passive protection for a certain level of time.”
The world can’t afford to be complacent
about vaccine science, which is an
incredibly challenging field.
Collaborative science for pandemic preparedness
If there’s one thing the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted, it’s the importance of collaborative working. In 2020, Canada-based Nexelis laboratory was chosen by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Inno-vations (CEPI) as the reference laboratory to transfer assays and build a centralised network repre-sented by over 10 laboratories globally, working to reliably assess and compare immunological re-sponses generated by Covid-19 vaccine candidates.
“We’ve been deeply involved in CEPI’s mission, which asks what it would take to make delivery of pandemic vaccines possible within 100 days,” says Gagnon. “The CEPI network is already in place and expanding, giving us the agility to deploy key assays around the world very quickly. The goal now is to utilise this network for the next pandemic.”
Vaccine science saves lives
Nexelis has also worked as a reference lab for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, providing centralised assays to support studies of vaccine and monoclonal antibody candidates. However, despite these developments, the world can’t afford to be complacent about vaccine science, which is an incredibly challenging field. It is, however, a supremely worthwhile one, says Gagnon. “What drives my passion for my day-to-day work?” he remarks. “In the vaccine space, it’s always the same answer: saving lives.”