Tackling Infectious Diseases

John Glen Excerpts

Thursday 20th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

It is a privilege to be able to contribute to this debate, and I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) for bringing it to the House this afternoon. I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy), who has done so much throughout this and the previous Parliament in the field of infectious diseases. In the work he does not only in this country, but globally, he really is an effective champion for this country in this area.

Several hon. Members have already highlighted that infectious disease research and development is a real success story for the UK. It is particularly fitting that we should be having this debate in the last days of this Parliament the week before World Immunisation Week, which celebrates the progress that we have made in tackling some of the biggest global health threats through vaccination. Closer to home, as the Member of Parliament who represents Porton Down, I have campaigned over the past six years on Wiltshire’s expertise in this area. I welcome the opportunity once again to focus the Government’s attention on this unique asset to the UK and its potential to contribute to the global fight against infectious disease.

I want to make clear the importance of UK aid and leadership and discuss how effective the UK aid budget can be if it is used creatively against the risks that exist. We often hear criticism of our development assistance budget, and people legitimately question whether aid is always in our national interest, but this area is a clear example of where our security at home can only be achieved by investment abroad. Epidemics may start far from our shores, but diseases do not respect national borders, and this country and this Government must continue to show leadership.

The national risk register rightly identifies emerging infectious disease as one of the most serious threats that we face. With over 2 billion passengers travelling by air every year, it remains firmly in the interest of national security to invest in vaccinations that can prevent outbreaks hundreds of miles away. However, this is not an issue that Government funding or intervention alone can address. It requires intelligent collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector to identify new vaccines, license them, manufacture them and then get them to where they are needed. Too often they remain stuck in the pipeline as unproven concepts in research papers.

The Ebola epidemic in 2014 galvanised international efforts to quickly mobilise vaccines, but it also identified several critical problems in the chain of development. First, as others have mentioned, too little economic incentive exists for the private sector to invest in vaccine research for rare emerging infectious diseases. Secondly, licensing vaccines is challenging, which has a further impact on their commercial potential. Thirdly, the UK has a limited manufacturing capability that needs to be enhanced. The British Society for Immunology told the Science and Technology Committee that

“we lack a truly effective and co-ordinated platform for the research, development, and manufacturing of new vaccines and treatments against novel or emerging disease threats”.

It is welcome news that the Government are taking significant steps to address that deficiency with the creation of the UK Vaccine Network and the £120 million in overseas development assistance to develop vaccines for infectious diseases with epidemic potential.

It can cost more than £1 billion to take a vaccine through development from concept to market. In particular, smaller firms face challenges in the translational gap of taking products through licensing, where costs can easily reach £100 million. Targeted investment at the right stages of research can help bridge those gaps, but so too can the right facilities in the right location, which is where we come to my constituency and the opportunities that exist therein.

As early as 2014, before the Ebola outbreak, life science experts at Porton Down were advocating for it to become a national centre for translational vaccinology. Their judgment was based on the concentration of expertise that exists there and the natural synergies between Government agencies and the private sector. Porton Down is currently home to Public Health England’s centre for emergency preparedness and response, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and a new £10 million science park that will be home to some of the most innovative biotechnology companies in the country.

Alongside those facilities, Salisbury district hospital and Southampton University, nearby, provide further complementary expertise in infectious diseases. Discussions are moving forward on how we can further strengthen that collaboration, perhaps through university status for Salisbury district hospital. Wiltshire has a large military footprint that will be further enhanced in the coming years, which could be of considerable benefit in tackling future outbreaks given the extensive involvement of our armed forces in the Ebola response. All those factors make Porton an ideal site for a Catapult centre for vaccine research and development.

Although the last Parliament took the decision to move much of the Public Health England footprint to Harlow, I am absolutely clear that we must maximise the significant potential that still remains at the facilities in my constituency. That is not merely about the interests of the local economy I represent in Wiltshire; it is about the effectiveness of the UK’s world-leading life science research base. Let us use our assets and resources intelligently. Porton Biopharma was corporatised out of Public Health England in 2015 specifically to capitalise on Porton’s long-established expertise in developing, manufacturing and bringing vaccines to market, and I am working closely with its leadership team to identify the best operating model for the company. I urge the Minister and his colleagues, as they consider the options for future vaccine development facilities in the UK, not to overlook the facilities and infrastructure that already exist and to build on them as far as possible.

Every year, existing vaccines avert an estimated 2 million or 3 million deaths globally. We all know that prevention is the best cure, and we must now ensure that the Government’s financial commitments translate into meaningful improvements in vaccine research and development sites at Porton Down.

As all Members think about the election and their manifestos, and as they make representations to those who will put the manifestos together, I urge the Minister to think creatively about the often-discussed size of the ministerial budget for which he is in part responsible and to think carefully about how it can be maximised for international aid purposes while using this country’s existing infrastructure. We can do so much more through such intelligent investment, and I hope there will be further opportunities for me to raise this issue if I am fortunate enough to be returned in the next Parliament.