World Bio Summit 2023: HERA addresses importance of accelerating development and manufacturing of pandemic therapeutics

Laurent Muschel, the acting Head of the Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) was present this week at the World Bio Summit 2023 in Seoul, Korea, to moderate a discussion on accelerating pandemic therapeutics development and manufacturing. The summit, organised by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and the World Health Organization under the theme “Strengthening capacities for pandemic response”, brought together representatives from the scientific and policymaking communities, the private sector, and international organisations to discuss solutions in building pandemic preparedness and response systems. The occasion saw productive exchanges with stakeholders from across the global health security architecture and forged closer ties between HERA and key Asian players, a valued group of partners in HERA’s international initiatives.

Accelerating the development and manufacturing of therapeutics is of crucial importance to delaying the spread of emerging infectious diseases, and stronger international efforts and cooperation are needed to support their implementation. Therapeutics such as antivirals can protect against a wide range of pathogens and therefore have the potential to be ready from ‘day 0’ in an outbreak, providing a vital bridge until other medical countermeasures are available. Therefore, they are a key priority for HERA research funding, with EUR 50 million set aside in 2024 to support early-stage research on broad spectrum antivirals. However, an adequate response to global threats requires closer international collaboration, and HERA has joined forces with other major actors such as CEPI and the WHO to champion a collective research effort and build towards a global clinical trials network.

The conference was also an opportunity for the HERA delegation to meet with representatives of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare to set in motion the implementation of the Administrative Arrangement signed in May, and to strengthen joint efforts to address prevention, preparedness and response to serious cross border health threats in the area of medical countermeasure. Operational for five years, the Agreement bolsters cooperation on epidemic surveillance actions, research, innovation and stockpiling on medical countermeasures, and technical experiences in data science and modelling.

Laurent Muschel, acting Head of HERA, said: “We need to maintain investment in pandemic preparedness. That means supporting not only the future vaccines but also therapeutics and diagnostics.”

Background

The Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)'s mission is to ensure the availability of medical countermeasures in case of a large-scale health emergency.

Collaborative agreements to build preparedness and response capacities with third country partners are at the heart of HERA’s international dimension. In a world where the supply chains for therapeutics, vaccines and other vital medical countermeasures closely interlinked, collaboration and learning from common experiences are of a cardinal importance to building strong global health security framework – one that fosters shared resilience, diminishes disparities in availability and access, and fortifies our collective ability to respond swiftly and effectively to emerging health crises.

HERA is a key pillar of the European Health Union and a fundamental asset to strengthen the EU's health emergency response and preparedness. In addition to Korea, it has signed cooperation agreements with third countries including the US and Japan, as well as with important players such as the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence to reinforce global cooperation to tackle cross-border health threats.