UK Government launches Pandemic Preparedness Partnership group

The UK Government has launched a new Pandemic Preparedness Partnership (PPP) with the aim to save lives from future diseases and prevent another global pandemic.

The PPP will advise the UK G7 Presidency on how to meet the Prime Minister’s plan to reduce the time to develop and deploy high quality vaccines for new diseases from 300 to 100 days, backed by additional funding to support the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ (CEPI) work on global vaccine supply. 

The public-private partnership will bring together industry, international organisations and leading experts. They will provide recommendations for delivering ambitious targets to more quickly develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics through greater global co-operation on research and development, manufacturing, clinical trials and data-sharing.

The £16 million investment will fund global vaccine manufacturing capacity and critical research and development to rapidly respond to the threat of new strains, supporting the development of new variant-specific vaccines. CEPI’s work to co-ordinate research, development and manufacturing of vaccines will aid efforts to have millions of doses of vaccine available for emergency use 100 days from a variant of concern being identified.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world but united us in our determination to ensure no disease has such an impact in the future. As G7 President, the UK is determined to work with our partners to build back better from coronavirus and strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics. This new expert group will drive our efforts in the years ahead to protect people everywhere from new diseases and to save lives,” said UK Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.

“COVID-19 has shown us that it is possible to develop and deploy high-quality vaccines much faster than previously imagined. We have brought together the PPP to see whether this can be accelerated even further and applied to the development of medicines and diagnostic tests. The group of experts from across the globe will advise the UK G7 Presidency as to how we can accelerate and scale up the development of effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to save lives from future diseases with pandemic potential and I look forward to progressing such vital work,” said Chair of the PPP, Sir Patrick Vallance.

The 20 members of the PPP include Sir Andrew Witty, Sir John Bell, Aurelia Nguyen and Richard Hatchett. Industry members include representatives from leading vaccine developers and life sciences companies such as Novartis, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.