Perhaps one of the major causes of respiratory illness in Ghana and across the world is the influenza. Predominantly cell-based, it’s common to find adults coughing severely, or parents dashing for a syrup or any other alternative drugs to stop a similar reaction from a child. The latest development from the pharmaceutical industry may change that story.Â
There are at the moment three known types of influenza viruses (A, B, and C) currently in circulation across the globe: types A and B associated with clinically important respiratory illness.
One of which is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): best known for its tendency to cause bronchiolitis in infants as well as infect all age groups and subsequently, causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections that varies in severity from subclinical infections to pneumonia and in some cases - death.
Each year, influenza viruses cause millions of illness cases associated with various respiratory syndromes and approximately 500,000 deaths.
Globally, about 20% of children and 5% of adults develop symptomatic influenza each year and majority of those cases here in Africa.
World Vision International, an organization committed to global health advocacy and initiatives’ 2017 report has it that over 1.2 million children under age 5 die every year (representing about 18% of under age 5 deaths) from the most common influenza-caused infection – pneumonia(at least for Africa) and over 1 million of those children live in the continent.
While there have been laudable efforts from governments and the private sector in providing available vaccines to at least lessen vulnerability to this influenza-caused infection, especially for children and young adults, there have been on-going research to develop cell-based drugs for its root cause: the influenza itself.
That search for a more effective solution to the influenza problem came to fruition recently following the invention of the first cell-based influenza vaccine.
However, the development had remained an experiment until recently verified.
Now earlier this month (June 2017), a subsidiary of the Australian biotechnology firm - CSL, has successfully produced the industry's first, cell-based influenza vaccine at its advanced manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US.
Seqirus, successfully manufactured the cell-based influenza vaccine at commercial scale using a candidate vaccine virus (CVV) that has been isolated and grown in cells, rather than in eggs.
While the World Health Organization only began recommending cell-derived CVVs last year 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted an approval for Seqirus to use them in the development of cell-based influenza vaccines at the Holly Springs site since 2014.
There is no doubt that this new vaccine will be quite expensive especially here in Africa, particularly Ghana for those who are in most need of it; there is also no doubt that with its potential to substantially reduces the illness or death figures associated with influenza-caused infections, Ghana’s government as well as those of other African countries already committed to the global health initiative, will be readily willing to subsidize for the new product to be available to the public.
More so, it will also boost investor confidence in pharmaceutical research potential particularly the growing one here in Ghana.