European Commission ‘must do more to help vaccine research’

The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), the umbrella body for academic and research institutions across Europe, has said that the European Commission must do more to encourage greater research into vaccines. It has also stated that more must be done to tackle problems in clinical research, such as the shortfalls in clinical trials.

EASAC’s report, compiled in cooperation with seven countries, said that the European Commission should reduce the commercial barriers which inhibit drug research.

The chairman of the working group and President of the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences in Germany, Dr Volker ter Meulen, remarked: “Vaccines are a crucial part of the armoury for dealing with infectious diseases. The European Commission, Parliament and Centre for Disease Control need to give better leadership in developing and implementing the strategies for producing and distributing vaccines.”

He added: “As the threat of infectious diseases grows, these matters will become more and more urgent.”

Also suggested in the report was the possibility of subsidies to encourage drug manufacturers to research vaccines, as they are not always the most profitable types of drug, despite their “high social value”. The report concluded that more needs to be done to inform the public of the benefits of vaccines to counteract the claims of the anti-vaccine lobbies.

GlaxoSmithKline are a British manufacturer which is currently researching vaccines. Currently they have two H5N1 (more commonly known as bird flu) viral accines in production, as well as two prospective HIV vaccines being researched with Cobra Biomanufacturing, in Keele and Oxford.

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