Short Wave - A Look Inside The World's Biggest Vaccine Maker

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

NPR's international correspondent Lauren Frayer takes us on a tour of the factory of the world's largest vaccine maker: Serum Institute of India. The company aims to manufacture 100 million doses a month of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and export them globally. Email the show at [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Maddie Safai here, we've got something a little different, a little special for you today. Lauren Freer, one of NPR's international correspondents, got to visit the world's biggest vaccine producer, the serum Institute of India, and tore their factory complex. You may have heard of one of the vaccines being produced there, the Oxford-AustraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. It's been in the news lately. Setbacks have only grown for the AstraZeneca vaccine as France, Italy, Germany, and Spain become the latest countries to suspend its use. Earlier this month, some countries, mainly in Europe, temporarily suspended their use of the vaccine over potential rare side effects.

But after an investigation by the European Union's health agency, it was determined that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its potential risks. And then yesterday... News breaking around 3 a.m. Eastern AstraZeneca, releasing the efficacy numbers. Preliminary efficacy results from a U.S.-based clinical trial were announced by AstraZeneca, which looked very promising, but now have come under scrutiny by an independent monitoring group. If and when the AstraZeneca vaccine is authorized in the U.S., the CIRM Institute of India will be ready. After the break, Lauren Freyer's story on the CIRM Institute and how India's

role in vaccine production is about to get even bigger. You're listening to Shortwave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR. So rows of palm trees here, green lawns, a little bit like a college campus. Yeah. We're riding in a golf cart up to the factory. Yeah, some are production facilities are there. Meagels, months, rubella, rabies vaccine. The Serum Institute of India was already the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer even before this pandemic. The company says two-thirds of all children in the world get its vaccines. And most of them are made here at a sprawling factory complex in Western India. Inside, these are conveyor belts with all these tiny little vials, just whizzing paths.

Going for automatic visual inspection. Automatic visual inspection. So a machine is inspecting me. It's a high-tech operation. But look outside the factory window. and you see a reminder of this company's more humble roots, horses. In the 1960s, this was a farm breeding race horses. And one day, one of the horses got bitten by a snake.

Suresh Jadav, serum's executive director, explains what happened next. In those days, the telephone lines were not working great in India, so it could not get the anti-snake venom serum. They could not get anti-snake venom serum in time. The horse died. but its owner had an idea. He suggested why not start making it ourselves. So the Serum Institute of India was born.

It began making serums against tetanus and snake venom and later added vaccines against all sorts of childhood diseases. They specialize in generic versions at low profit margins and export to 170 different countries. Last spring, a tiny package arrived here by Courier from Oxford University in England. Yeah, yeah, not even bought. It is a very small vial.

It's one-ml vial. Chief scientist Umes Shaligram describes what was inside, components of a viral vector vaccine against the coronavirus. Serum scrambled to start mass-producing them immediately in huge floor-to-ceiling stainless steel vats of... Human embryonic kidney cells. Human embryonic kidney cell line, yeah. Scientist Petty Reddy recalls how he was developing other vaccines in these vats.

when his supervisor told him to quickly convert everything over to the coronavirus vaccine. While under lockdown, as the pandemic exploded. It was difficult, and we had to follow very strict rules of isolation. Did you work overtime? Yes, definitely. During those days, people have to do overtime. And this was before clinical trials showed that the Oxford Astrosanica vaccine would work. It was a gamble with so much at stake, he says. Everybody is waiting for it.

The whole mankind is waiting for it. it. The whole world is waiting for it. And so this winter, when trials finally proved this vaccine, did indeed work. We celebrated internally, not like party or something, but we had that moment of joy. You didn't open a champagne incident in this laboratory? No, no. Serum hopes to soon be churning out 100 million doses per month of this one vaccine. On top of all the other vaccines, they're still producing here.

The Oxford Astrosenica formula is particularly attractive to India and, other low and middle-income countries because it needs just regular refrigeration, not sub-zero temperatures. This is the cold storage area. The capacity of cold room is 70 million doses. So what we're looking at right here is enough to vaccinate whole countries. It's an ongoing process. Out of cold storage, along these conveyor belts and out to 68 countries so far, racing

against Russia and China in what some are calling vaccine diplomacy. India's huge capacity has attracted interest from the so-called quad, the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India. They announced financing to help another Indian producer make a billion more doses of another COVID vaccine. But while Indian manufacturers are partnering with global pharmaceutical companies, the Indian government is challenging them at the World Trade Organization. There is an agreement that binds all WTO members to, certain levels of protection for intellectual property, 20-year patents. Rachel Thrasher is a legal scholar at the Global Development Policy Center in Boston.

She explains how India and South Africa are asking the WTO to suspend those patents for COVID vaccines so that companies like serum can crank out generic versions quickly and cheaply. In certain countries, the majority of the population won't be vaccinated for something like five years. that gives those viruses a long time to mutate. So the argument they're making is not, hey, look out for us, but more, this is in the interest of all of us, everyone. CIROM's executive director, Jadav, says he supports that effort at the WTO. What we require is a vaccine today, not tomorrow. You want to stop the disease and stop its spread.

And that can happen only if there is no restriction on using the technologies. Many global health experts agree. The Pope has said he does too. But some companies, including AstraZeneca, have pledged to sell their vaccines at cost without profit. And suspending their patents, they say, is not the answer. It would kill innovation and would not speed up distribution. Bottlenecks have more to do with supply chains than access to the vaccine technology itself. I think both sides of this debate are over-emphasizing the role of patents.

Daniel Hemel is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He says the serum Institute's success shows a middle path. It got a license from AstraZeneca. It's been able to mass produce vaccines within the current regulatory environment. It shows the potential of licensing arrangements. Without canceling patents, Serum Institute is able to gain rights to make vaccines on a large scale. That's a good thing. Back at Syrum's factory as vials of coronavirus vaccines whizz off conveyor belts inside,

Chief scientist Umes Shali Grom points to construction underway outside on a new pandemic preparedness facility. Another year or two, when you come, you'll see that facility actually. The idea is to have extra machines, extra labs, all on hand, to make billions of doses of vaccine against whatever virus hits next. Lauren Freyer, NPR News at the Serum Institute in Pune, India. Thanks again to Lauren Freyer. You can email us at shortwave at npr.org.

Shortwave is made by Thomas Liu, Rebecca Ramirez, Britt Hansen, Emily Kwong, Rasha Auredi, Viet Le, Giselle, Giselle Grayson, and me, Maddie Safaya. We are back tomorrow with more shortwave from NPR. On NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we talk about what we're watching, listening to, or just trying to figure out. Like what concert films you should watch if you may. live music and great books to read alone or in your book club. All of that in around 20 minutes every weekday. Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR.