CP2H and the 100-day challenge

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has set forth an ambitious 100-day challenge for G7 countries to make unprecedented investments in diagnostics, vaccine and therapeutic R&D, biomanufacturing, clinical development and regulatory changes to meet this challenge.  

The Canadian government response has been a $2.1 billion investment in Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy that supports Stage 1 funding for the five Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) hubs (including CP2H) and the launch of the CBRF and Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund  Stage 2 Competition supported by the CBRF hubs.  

From the experience of our CP2H investigators and feedback from our industry partners, we know that the path from therapeutic discovery to clinical testing and commercialization needs to be a continuum with key development activities dynamically meshing throughout. This has informed our strategic response to the challenges identified above and our contributions moving forward.

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• We will expand our current portfolio of vaccine technologies and create regulatory packages that will allow rapid assessment of the safety and efficacy of novel vaccine candidates. 
• We will de-risk a portfolio of anti-infective drug leads targeted to high-priority bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens (as identified by the World Health Organization and Health Canada) that can be rapidly deployed to meet new infectious disease threats. 
• We will develop cost effective biomanufacturing processes that produce high yield and purity and are scalable to an industrial level. 
• Our networked GMP facilities will be harmonized and maintained in a state of readiness to provide on demand manufacturing capacity linked to that of our government and private sector partners for rapid scale-up. 
• We will develop easy-to-use, point of care (POC) diagnostic platform technologies that can be readily adapted and deployed for rapid detection of key pathogens. 
• We will identify and rapidly address relevant social, ethical, economic and legal hurdles in the translation and uptake of new therapeutics and vaccines. 

Concretely, CP2H’s contribution to the 100-day mission is built upon five strategic areas of focus: 

1. Creation of a Trans-Canadian Biomanufacturing Co-operative 

2. Establishment of High-Performance Translational Research and Development Teams organized across five platforms, including strategies to address societal, ethical and economic impact  

3. Networking of Regional Experiential HQP Training Centres 

4. Innovation, GMP manufacturing and clinical development support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)  

5. Pandemic preparedness