RUSSIA’S offer to share Sputnik V’s vaccine production technical know-how with Malaysia, as reported in a local daily, is a refreshing tone against the dominant backdrop of “vaccinationalism” and news of governments claiming of bullying by a vaccine producer via unreasonable supply conditions.
But according to market and consumer data portal Statista, countries such as Brazil, China, India, and the Republic of Korea could also be producing Sputnik V. Euronews, a European-based news portal, reported that Italy would also be joining the pack as the first European Union country to produce Sputnik V by July this year.
According to Reuters, Malaysia’s Pharmaniaga deal with China’s Sinovac will include a fill-and-finish process of the vaccine. However, the Malaysian integrated pharmaceutical group also pointed to a local manufacturing deal, through a licensing agreement with Sinovac, for its technology and know-how.
Local production deals, such as those associated with vaccine producers from Russia and China, are mutually beneficial.
Malaysia’s geographical advantage makes it a great hub for any exports, such as vaccines, as it is centrally-located at the heart of the Asia-Pacific. It is also mutually strategic as it has been reported that aside from Singapore, other counties in the region have also shown interest in Sputnik V.
Russian ambassador to Malaysia, Naiyl M. Latypov, said Russia’s offer includes collaboration in “capacity building, technology sharing and research, and development of vaccines with Malaysia”.
It is unclear how these are packaged but assuming its through some sort of licensing deal, technology transfer arrangements associated with the purchase of more affordable vaccines that are inclusive of significant capacity building, investments, collaborative research and development could be a middle ground between complete waiver of intellectual property, which is strongly opposed by pharmaceutical giants and most high-income countries, and complete concentration of manufacturing in only a few locations in the world.
Such model allows global vaccine production scale-up and allows countries to have the ability to produce vaccines for itself, effectively reducing reliance on other nations.
Depending on factors such as volumes and contractual obligations, Malaysia’s participation as a producer could alleviate global supply bottlenecks in future. Of course, this does not necessarily mean equitable access to vaccines for other nations.
Equitable access is not only a matter of vaccine availability (production volume) but also accessibility (logistics, prices, etc.). Therefore, worldwide equitable access to vaccines may improve partially, depending on the costs associated with the licensing.
Sputnik V is still under review by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), whereby it would be assessed primarily on safety, efficacy and efficiency. That being said, there are also considerations that should be taken into account in vaccine portfolio strategy.
An ideal vaccine choice would be something that is safe, efficacious, effective and affordable. On top of that, it should be nimble enough to be updated in cases of virus mutations or in cases of new pandemics and biological threats.
Deal sweeteners include local production, especially if it involves latest technology transfer deals at reasonable costs, capacity building, research and development and also investments.
At the moment, Russia’s offer through Sputnik V appears to fit some of these criteria, subject to further details on the deal and pending assessment by NPRA. The reported efficacy in the interim analysis of Sputnik V’s Phase 3 clinical trials was 91.6%, putting it among the likes of Pfizer and Moderna.
Since there are other countries that have approved and used Sputnik V, it is probably best to also observe them, to obtain more data on real-world experience with the vaccine. It has been reported that about 50 countries worldwide have placed orders for Sputnik V.
Russia’s offer was also reported as potentially paving the way for Malaysia to achieve “vaccine independence”. The offer is a good initiative with a partnership vibe instead of just a pure seller-buyer deal, which Malaysia should reciprocate and make full use of.
This could be one of the steps in addressing a critical area of Malaysia’s national security, and is in line with Malaysia’s aspiration to develop its own internal capabilities in vaccine production in the future.
Though such deals can alleviate over-dependency on other countries, achieving vaccine independence will take more than offers of manufacturing licence and tech transfers.
Vaccine development from lab to large-scale production can take a long time, can be costly and is often associated with low success rates. Enormous financial and intellectual resilience are the norm in vaccine research, development and production capabilities.
Taking the reality of Malaysia’s current capabilities, it is worth considering such partnerships to bridge the knowledge gap and alleviate the financial burdens through partnerships, which can help pave the way for Malaysia to increase internal standalone capabilities for the long run.
In preparation for potential future pandemics, the proposed National Vaccine Centre may be considered as a central platform for similar collaborations but it will need to be supported with a critical mass of talent, which may require a reformed education system in Malaysia that prepares its future workforce with a revitalised interest and skill in science and technology.
After all, these talents are the true recipients of technology transfer, without which there can be no capacity building.
In this particular case, it is clear that there must be a revival of related fields of sciences such as biotechnology, bioprocessing and biomedical sciences alongside other frontier technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Highly-skilled talents in these fields, supported with proper infrastructure and resilient financial backing, can make full use of the tech transfer/capacity building offer, such as the one from Russia, with initial steps towards vaccine independence.
Ameen Kamal is the Head of Science & Technology at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
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