As an important stakeholder of global health security, it is time for the pharma sector to embrace newer approaches and strategies which are in line with One Health principles to be a worthy warrior in the war against zoonoses.
By LAKSHMIPRIYA NAIR
The coronavirus pandemic has made it very apparent that developing proactive and pre-emptive strategies for preventing, detecting, treating and controlling infectious diseases with zoonotic origin is imperative to avert such large-scale crises in future. And, the ‘One Health’ approach will undoubtedly be one of the most key components of any framework which aims to enhance preparedness and response capacities towards zoonotic diseases.
Why is it so vital?
Data reveals that most pandemics, including the latest one caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, originated in animals and then spilled over to humans, leading to widespread human-to-human transmission with devastating consequences. In fact, scientists and experts reckon that approximately six out of every 10 known infectious diseases spread from animals, and three of every four new infectious diseases in people originate from animals.
Painting a clearer picture, Pushpa Vijayaraghavan, Director – Sathguru Management Consultants, informs, "Zoonotic diseases have been around from time immemorial. Data available for more than a decade now points to 60 per cent of human infectious diseases being transmitted by animals and 75 per cent of emerging infectious pathogens originating from animals. On the subject of viruses, it is again known that there are over 1.6 million unknown species of viruses in mammalian and avian populations."
Further, as evidenced by the current scenario where the entire world is being held hostage due to the coronavirus pandemic, occurrence of zoonoses in one country/region will pose a major threat to global health security coupled with huge economic impact. Gaurav Kaushik, MD and CEO, Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals explains, "At present, the world is a global community and public health of any particular region often affects the overall socio-economy of the world."
So, as the inextricable role of human-animal–ecosystem interface in the evolution and emergence of pathogens become glaringly obvious, the world cannot afford to neglect the ‘One Health’ approach any longer. Dr Prasanna Deshpande, Deputy MD, Indian Immunologicals expounds, "As the human population explodes, interactions with new zoonotic agents from animals will continue to increase. So, prevention of risks that originate at the interface among humans, animals, and the environment is becoming increasingly important."
Yet, there are few good examples of One Health among the stakeholders of the life sciences industry across the globe, including the pharma industry.
So, how can the pharma sector contribute to this approach?
Collaborate to conquer
The role of the pharma industry in strengthening global health security is crucial. Be it vaccines or medicines, the monumental responsibility of ensuring that new drug-based therapies are developed and made accessible in adequate capacities at places where they are needed rests with the pharma sector to a great extent. And this makes the sector one of the most important stakeholders in the pursuit of the One Health agenda. They should team up more with other key public and private partners of health.
To begin with, a closer collaboration between animal and human health sectors of the pharma industry is an exigency to expedite the pace of drug and vaccine development worldwide. Because, as Dr Deshpande informs, "Vaccines have a key role to play within the One Health agenda as they can effectively control disease transmission between humans and animals while having a significant impact on their shared environment."
Despite noticeable physiological and pathophysiological similarities between humans and animals, interrelated concerns and expertise, human and veterinary medicines largely operate in silos and pharma companies too have often been guilty of not fostering active collaborations.
The sector will have to improve engagements with governments and other public health players to develop, acquire, and accumulate enormous capacities of drug-related countermeasures to protect populations against ...
(All Rights Reserved)