Vaccination has saved more lives than any other healthcare intervention. Its effectiveness and low cost have made it essential to maintaining public health. Over the past century, smallpox has been eradicated, and the suffering and death caused by more than 30 other infectious diseases, including typhoid, diphtheria, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella, have been drastically reduced. These are no small feats.

This is all according to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in its new report, Vaccines for the 21st Century: Taking Canada to the Next Level.

CIHR has identified research into vaccines as a priority for a variety of reasons. Interest in vaccine research and development is intensifying. This, it says, is due to a dearth of vaccines for several major diseases; a lack of new antibiotics to fight infections; threats from emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorism; new uses for vaccines (e.g. to prevent and to treat cancer); renewed interest in global health; and a need to maintain national capacity.

Canada has always been at the forefront of vaccine research and development. Bio Business recently spoke to Dr. Andrew Potter, Director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon and home of the International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), about the new $140-million Containment Level 3 facility set to open in 2011. VIDO-InterVac will represent the largest vaccine research investment ever in Canada, which it says will enhance Canada’s capacity to develop vaccines and new methods of delivery for humans and animals.

Opening day is still more than a year away, but what will the new day-to-day look like?
I could give you a potential list of research projects that will likely be undertaken within InterVac, and that list will include swine and avian flu, in particular H5N1. We work on influenza now but we do this work in collaboration with the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Our list of research projects will also include prion diseases such as BSE in cattle and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk. We have active programs for both of these Level 3 diseases but unfortunately we can’t do the vaccine testing until InterVac is open.

Have you been doing any work around H1N1?
Sure, we’ve done a lot of work with H1N1. As far as an animal disease, H1N1’s been around for a long time and there are a lot of varieties with H1N1. We’ve published work about the experimental vaccines that we’ve developed, and when the outbreak started in the spring, we shifted some of our efforts to the new variant. That said, we are limited by the absence of containment facilities like InterVac. We also have an active vaccine program related to Hepatitis C, but there again, you can only take research so far before you’re blocked by the inability to actually do work with the virus itself. The same roadblock exists for research involving tuberculosis.

How did you function so long without this type of a facility?
We’ve done it because we’re a very collaborative organization. We have partnered up with people who either have access to the facilities or have partners that have access to the facilities. We have partnerships all over the world, in fact, on every continent with the exception of Antarctica, and that includes groups with very good Level 3 facilities.

What would you tell the life sciences community about the lab?
Number one, construction is proceeding well and when it’s commissioned we would welcome user applications from anybody from around the world. Number two and most importantly, from an academic perspective, it opens up research horizons in a huge way. It’s amazing how many grant applications going to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research rely on access to a facility such InterVac, yet people don’t have access at the time of writing the grant. Number three, Canadian companies can gain a competitive advantage with research at InterVac. Companies are welcome to come in, as are academic and government researchers, and no single company can justify building this type of facility. Given this, I think InterVac offers a competitive advantage to our partners in the private sector.

I read that you want to be “a key player in Canada’s vaccine preparedness strategy.” How will you achieve this?
I think anyone who’s followed the H1N1 story knows we’ve been reactive. We haven’t had a proactive stance on what are we going to do in the future when disease outbreaks occur, and they will come up. I would have thought we would have learned a lot from SA RS about infectious diseases, what they can do, and being prepared for the next one. When I look at our response to H1N1, however, I can see very clearly that that hasn’t been the case as we’re all over the map with our response. I don’t know if there’s going to be another thing like SA RS but there’s going to be another emerging infectious disease. No question about it; I just don’t know what it’s going to be. When you have the infrastructure, supporting networks and the technologies to develop the intervention strategies, you’re then in a position of strength to work from. That’s what VIDO-InterVac is all about. We do our own research here, primarily in platform technologies that can be applied to any disease, and then can advance this research within the research the networks we have and are building. Canada is too small a country for us to go our own way and do our own thing in individual laboratories. We’ve got to work together.

How long does it take to develop these vaccines?
It depends on the agent. Influenza doesn’t take all that long at all because you simply plug it into an existing production system. In the SA RS case, we had vaccine candidates for SA RS ready for Phase 1, 2, and 3 within a year and a half. That’s a remarkably short time in the vaccine field as development of a new normal vaccine can typically take anywhere from 10 to 25 years to get a fully licensed product. Obviously, this type of timeline is not conducive to dealing with emerging and infectious diseases.

Are we developing new policies and processes then along the way as well?
I think we are, and I applaud the regulators for doing this. Certainly with H1N1, we are developing new ways of doing things because we can’t wait.

It’s generated a lot of discussion in the public and you’re publicly funded. I imagine that would help you in the running and the point of view of the facility in the public’s eyes. It’s not a tough sell right now.
Not a tough sell right now. When it comes to infectious disease and Canada’s role on the international stage, since the early days with small pox and polio and all the way through, Canada has done some amazing work, both in the public and private sectors. It’s a story that needs to get out to people and it’s a story people love to hear.

Are there any strengths or weaknesses you can identify with the facility?
With the facility, there are a lot of challenges from the financial perspective. It’s an incredible facility and cost-wise, we are going to have an ongoing challenge as it’s going to be very expensive to maintain. The same challenges exist for conceptually similar ones across the country. With InterVac as one of the top 10 science facilities in Canada, and probably one of the top six in terms of the value of it, Canada is recognizing that we need this type of facility and that government needs to support this type of research infrastructure. Determining a way to fund this type of facility is absolutely critical, and is likely best addressed with a partnership of all levels of government, the private sector and anybody else that wants in.

You’re hiring 50 new positions. Is it easy or tough to find people?
It’s always tough to find great people. We’ve been remarkably successful in the past and hope to be able to continue that success, but it’s tough. It’s a competitive field these days and there are a lot of good jobs available for the right sorts of people. What we try and do is offer them the ability to come here and essentially reach their full potential. We don’t put any constraints on people; rather they’re encouraged to go as far as they can with their research and what they want to do.

What do the next five years look like?
Lots of fun. The possibilities are mind-boggling so we’re really, really excited. I think you’re going to see a lot of acceleration with research programs already underway, plus you’re also going to see a lot of new things. It’s really exciting as this applies to Canadian research and around the world. This is the sort of thing that keeps us going.