The pandemic and resilience for the future: AccBio 2021

• Published in: Biotechnology progress Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. e3207 - n/a
• Main Authors: McGovern, Āine T., Salisbury, Cleo M., Nyberg, Gregg B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.01.2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: accelerating; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; biopharmaceutical development; biopharmaceutical industry; Biopharmaceuticals; commercialization; COVID-19; COVID-19 - drug therapy; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - virology; COVID‐19 pandemic; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Drug Industry - organization & administration; Humans; Pandemics; Resilience; Review; REVIEWS; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; speed to clinic; Supply chains; Vaccines; biopharmaceutical development; COVID-19 pandemic; commercialization; accelerating; biopharmaceutical industry; speed to clinic
• ISSN: 8756-7938; 1520-6033
• DOI: 10.1002/btpr.3207

The year 2020 brought the onslaught of a global crisis in the form of the COVID‐19 pandemic. While nearly every facet of everyday life and work was impacted by the pandemic, the biopharmaceutical industry found silver linings in innovation, partnership, and resiliency, all of which contributed to unprecedented speed in developing and delivering vaccines and therapies. The 7th International Conference on Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Development (AccBio 2021) brought together industry leaders to share experiences from the past year and discuss how lessons learned from the pandemic can be carried forward into the future of biopharmaceutical development. Presenters highlighted examples such as introducing biotherapeutics derived from non‐clonal cell pools into the clinic, developing modular or platform technologies, and taking novel risks, among others. These strategies for enabling speed to clinic and launch, as well as for sustaining a robust supply chain, are likely to be integrated into future programs to ensure biomanufacturing resiliency and get medicines to patients faster than pre‐pandemic times.