{"id":462410,"date":"2022-06-09T19:46:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T16:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/modernas-patricia-gauthier-is-preparing-canada-for-the-next-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2022-06-09T19:46:44","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T16:46:44","slug":"modernas-patricia-gauthier-is-preparing-canada-for-the-next-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/modernas-patricia-gauthier-is-preparing-canada-for-the-next-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"#Moderna\u2019s Patricia Gauthier is preparing Canada for the next pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc8231294\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc8231294\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/modernas-patricia-gauthier-is-preparing-canada-for-the-next-pandemic\/#%E2%80%9CModernas_Patricia_Gauthier_is_preparing_Canada_for_the_next_pandemic%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Moderna\u2019s Patricia Gauthier is preparing Canada for the next pandemic&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CModernas_Patricia_Gauthier_is_preparing_Canada_for_the_next_pandemic%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Moderna\u2019s Patricia Gauthier is preparing Canada for the next pandemic&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In November of 2020,<\/span> Patricia Gauthier walked away from her post as head of vaccine business at pharmaceutical giant GSK to become the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> manager\u2014and first employee\u2014of Moderna Canada, a subsidiary of a decade-old U.S. biotech company that had yet to bring a product to market.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">Gauthier, a Quebec-born lawyer who lives in Etobicoke, in Toronto\u2019s west end, had no office, co-workers or blueprint for the task ahead: overseeing the Canadian <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roval of a new kind of vaccine, then bringing millions of doses into the country at lightning speed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Eighteen months on, nearly 30 million doses of Moderna\u2019s Spikevax have been distributed in Canada. In April, the company laid a big bet on this country, announcing plans to open a facility in Quebec by the <span class=\"s3\">end of 2024 to manufacture mRNA vac<\/span>cines for COVID-19 and other viruses.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">In May, on her first day at Moderna\u2019s new Toronto headquarters, Gauthier spoke with <i>Maclean\u2019s<\/i> contributor Christina Frangou.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>When did you realize this virus would change your life?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The big moment was when I joined Moderna. It was six months into the pandemic and three weeks before Moderna received approval from Health Canada for its COVID-19 vaccine. The mission was clear. I was not only taking on a new job but creating Moderna Canada from scratch in my home.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Did the company come to you? Or vice versa?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">A bit of both. I\u2019m very curious. I always read up on new companies and technologies, and I was looking for my next challenge. Moderna caught my eye when they secured their first contract with the federal government in July 2020. I read in <i>La Presse<\/i> that CEO St\u00e9phane Bancel said the company will open affiliates around the world\u201410 in the next two years. There was no Phase 3 clinical trial data as I was interviewing. It was like a bungee jump. I was going from a very secure role to taking a leap of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>When you became general manager of Moderna Canada, you were working from home, in the same house where your two kids were going to virtual school. What was that like?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I was just asking my daughter about this the other night: do you recall when we would go for walks after dinner because that was the only thing we could do?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">The first thing was accepting that nothing was going to be perfect. I told my kids and husband that I\u2019d be working a lot more. I\u2019d need everybody to step up and be more autonomous. But when you give space to people, it\u2019s phenomenal what they can do.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Working from home had its challenges. The kids were going through homeschooling. I\u2019m fortunate they love school\u2014it was not a battle each day. I had the benefit of being able to have dinner with them every night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Were your kids aware of the stakes at your new job?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">When I got the offer from Moderna, I also had offers from my previous company to move to London or the U.S. I asked my girls, who were seven and nine at the time, for their thoughts. Either we move and work remains the same, or I stay in Toronto to build a company from the ground up and participate in the effort against a pandemic, and I work a lot more. My oldest said, \u201cMom, I really want to stay here, but I don\u2019t know how you can work more.\u201d I was, like, \u201cWatch me. You\u2019ll see.\u201d They knew, and were supportive.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>READ:\u00a0How Anita Anand became the Trudeau government\u2019s all-round fixer<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>You were thrust into the spotlight as Canadians were demanding vaccines. Moderna had barely started producing its vaccine at commercial scale, and supplies were extremely limited. How did you deal with that pressure?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I have never done as much <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> as I did during my third week on the job. It was a learning-in-the-moment experience. The scrutiny and external pressure were high. I had to learn to focus on what was critical.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">I felt capable and confident. We were very transparent with the government as to where the situation was. We didn\u2019t even have a manufacturing supply chain a year earlier, and we felt every bump along the road. While these bumps were not pleasing to the public eye, I knew we were doing everything we could to bring vaccines to Canadians. We turned every stone, including bringing vaccines from the U.S. in June last year so everybody could get their second-dose summer, as the Prime Minister had promised.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>What do you mean by \u201cturned every stone\u201d?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Health Canada had approved doses only from European manufacturing sites. Moderna made the same vaccine in the U.S., but once we found doses there, we had to work quickly with the department to approve the American manufacturing sites. This was done in less than a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Did you have to convince American colleagues of the necessity of getting doses into Canada?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Moderna had to fulfill its obligations to the United States, but Canada wanted to be the first in line after the Americans. I\u2019d been working hard to make sure this country was always a priority market, so that any time we had capacity out of the U.S., Canada was top of mind.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Before the pandemic, was this country\u2019s lack of domestic biomanufacturing an issue?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">For as long as I\u2019ve been in pharma, the federal government has had a pandemic influenza strategy that includes having onshore manufacturing sites, which they have with other drug makers. I was part of that at GSK.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">What we didn\u2019t have in Canada\u2014and other countries did not have either\u2014was a pandemic plan for Disease X, the potential pathogen that can become a pandemic. In 2019, Disease X was SARS-CoV-2. That\u2019s where we\u2019ve tried to create a new solution with the federal government. Our platform, mRNA, enables us to develop <span class=\"s2\">vaccines with speed, bring them to clinical <\/span>trials and scale up manufacturing. It\u2019s a paradigm shift from where we were before.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>MORE:\u00a0Ahmed Hussen has a plan to solve Canada\u2019s housing crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>What vaccines will be made here?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Pending Health Canada regulations, we are planning for the COVID-19 vaccine and updates to the COVID-19 vaccine, which include a potential bivalent vaccine we are working on. The vaccine we have now is designed for the Wuhan strain. The bivalent vaccine will be for Wuhan and Omicron together. It gives some cross-protection against other variants of concern and increases antibody response. We are also planning vaccines for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and combinations. We could have a COVID-19\u2013influenza combination vaccine.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Moderna made global commitments to focus on 15 priority pathogens, including HIV. By working with experts for these viruses, we can build a library of vaccines for them in the early stage of clinical trials. Then, should there be a pandemic, we can quickly move them through later phases of trials and seek approval.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">But we need to have a manufacturing site that is always pandemic-ready. You do that by keeping the site warm, manufacturing vaccines for other respiratory diseases that use the same platform.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>The current vials from Moderna have 10 to 14 doses. There\u2019s a lot of wastage in Canada when vaccinators open a vial. Will this change?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Absolutely. The 10-to-14 is the pandemic package, because we wanted to bring as many doses as possible, as rapidly as we could. The 14s were coming from the U.S. It was not the typical Canadian package. We are moving to a five-dose vial that will be available once approved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>The Council of Canadians and others have <\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>said the Montreal-area facility will not ad<\/b><\/span><b>dress global vaccine inequity. What\u2019s your response?<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">There\u2019s no silver bullet to vaccine inequity. That\u2019s an issue we take to heart at Moderna. We are building a manufacturing site in Kenya to support Africa. We have pledged not to enforce our patent during the pandemic for the Gavi AMC countries. They\u2019re the 92 low- and middle-income countries in COVAX, an international initiative aimed at providing equitable access to COVID vaccines. We have a tiered pricing system, <\/span><span class=\"s1\">where we sell to Gavi and developing coun<\/span><span class=\"s2\">tries at a much lower price adapted to the GDP in their country.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">The manufacturing site in Canada will contribute to building capacity across the world. We hope that, should there be a future pandemic, the world will be more ready.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>This article appears in print in the July 2022 issue of<\/em>\u00a0Maclean\u2019s\u00a0<em>magazine. 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