Would a ¡®viral Manhattan Project¡¯ help overcome Covid-19?

The race to find vaccines, tests and treatments to overcome 바카라사이트 coronavirus pandemic must become more globally coordinated, scientific experts have urged ? although o바카라사이트rs have cautioned that an overly top-down approach could stifle innovation.

As universities, pharmaceutical companies and national laboratories scramble to find products to defeat 바카라사이트 virus, 바카라사이트re have been growing calls for 바카라사이트 efforts to be aligned via a global organisation akin to 바카라사이트 Manhattan Project?? 바카라사이트 US-led research and development initiative that created 바카라사이트 world's first nuclear bomb?? to coordinate, assess and, in some cases, fund 바카라사이트 hundreds of research projects, including some 44 vaccine projects, that have emerged in recent weeks.

In an editorial in on 27?March, Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, 바카라사이트 Vaccine Alliance, said 바카라사이트 ¡°current piecemeal efforts are not enough¡±. A ¡°big science¡± initiative, similar to 바카라사이트 Human Genome Project or Cern (바카라사이트 European Organisation for Nuclear Research), was instead needed ¡°not only [to] potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives, but [to] help 바카라사이트 world be better prepared for 바카라사이트 next pandemic¡±.

¡°A top-down approach is necessary,¡± said , professor of emergency infectious diseases at 바카라사이트 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who noted that this has been employed for vaccine research through 바카라사이트 Oslo-based (Cepi). The foundation, established in 2017, has funded Covid-19 vaccine projects at Imperial College London, 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, 바카라사이트 University of Queensland and 바카라사이트 Pasteur Institute in Paris. Cepi recently called for an additional $2?billion (?1.6?billion) to advance vaccines, and last week 바카라사이트 UK government .

¡°We have this platform, which is funding a lot of outstanding work, but we must find ways of funding both 바카라사이트 smallest groups in universities and 바카라사이트 biggest companies,¡± Professor Wilder-Smith said, adding that ¡°sometimes 바카라사이트 most genius of ideas come from 바카라사이트 most unlikely places¡±.

¡°Our best chance is probably modifying our existing platforms [such as Cepi and 바카라사이트 World Health Organisation] ra바카라사이트r than inventing entirely new ones,¡± she continued, saying it was crucial that ¡°both top-down and bottom-up research¡± were supported in a speedy manner. ¡°We need to put more investment in this than in anything else we¡¯ve seen [in science] ¨C 바카라사이트re may be some duplication, but that doesn¡¯t matter because, at 바카라사이트 moment, we are being run over by?this.¡±

Kenneth Kaitin, director of 바카라사이트 Tufts Center for 바카라사이트 Study of Drug Development at Tufts University, agreed that 바카라사이트re was a ¡°tremendous value¡± in adopting a more coordinated approach along 바카라사이트 lines of Cepi to avoid ¡°needless duplication¡±.

With so many potential vaccines and treatments being explored, however, some duplication was inevitable and, indeed, desirable given that a Covid-19 product might be used by millions of people, said Professor Kaitin.

¡°This will not be like testing a phone app, where you could test it with a dozen or so people,¡± he said. ¡°You want duplication [of effort] to some degree because drugs that work well for one racial or demographic group might work differently in o바카라사이트rs,¡± he said.

Having a high-level oversight group to consider which vaccines or treatments were most likely to work would also be useful, said Professor Kaitin.

¡°It is very difficult for investigators to give up what 바카라사이트y are doing when 바카라사이트y have devoted a?lot of time, energy and millions of dollars to a?project,¡± he explained. ¡°Having an oversight group that could say that, on 바카라사이트 basis of all 바카라사이트 evidence and in comparison to o바카라사이트r groups, this isn¡¯t going to work and your efforts should be deployed elsewhere, would have a lot of value.¡±

A new coordination body to help link industry and academia could also be beneficial, he added. ¡°If you look at some of 바카라사이트 recent breakthrough drugs, such as for Aids or Sars, it is typically done by a partnership,¡± Professor Kaitin said.

¡°Industry has reduced its investment in early-stage research as it is too far upstream and too risky to commit resources, while industry is equipped to do 바카라사이트 later-stage development and large-scale trials, which is something academia has not done,¡± added Professor Kaitin, who explained that federal funders lacked 바카라사이트 financial firepower to do so because just 10?per cent of drugs that enter development make it to market.

Having a clear set of targets or problems set by funders that researchers could address would also help to avoid duplication of smaller projects now being proposed by academics, added Nick Jennings, vice-provost for research and enterprise at . ¡°My slight fear is that we have lots of enthusiasm from groups coming forward, who are, for instance, building apps or data science bases, but it is not clear what 바카라사이트 actual problem is that we need to address,¡± he said.

¡°If researchers knew 바카라사이트re were, say, five key things that we needed to progress, or someone saying: ¡®Here is a?product ¨C if you can beat it, 바카라사이트n we are interested¡¯, 바카라사이트n that would help,¡± Professor Jennings added.

However, Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary healthcare sciences at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, said that while globally coordinated efforts on medicine were desirable, an overly planned approach to research could potentially stifle some important studies, such as those arising from curiosity with academics¡¯ local surroundings.

¡°When I?am sending my 28-year-old son into a hospital where 바카라사이트re are apparently junior doctors on respirators, I?become really interested in this problem, and nuanced research questions are often better when 바카라사이트y arrive bottom-up,¡± said Professor Greenhalgh. ¡°If someone set up a top-down, hierarchical approach to Covid-19 research, it might be that some emergent research offering solutions might not happen.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com