Abbott forms ‘eyes on the ground’ coalition to watch for future pandemic threats

US healthcare major Abbott has formed an international “Pandemic Defense Coalition” for the early detection of, and rapid response to, future pandemic threats. And this ‘first-of-its-kind’ global scientific and public health partnership which include Chennai’s YRG Care.

“By connecting global centres of excellence in laboratory testing, genetic sequencing and public health research, the programme will identify new pathogens, analyse potential risk level, rapidly develop and deploy new diagnostic testing and assess public health impact in real time,” a note from the company said.

The announcement comes on the day that marks a year since the World Health Organization labelled Covid-19 a pandemic, and the scientific world has cautioned that it would certainly not be the last.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated a clear need for advanced surveillance and viral sequencing – and the critically important role of testing. Understanding what pathogenic threats are emerging will help us test, diagnose and hopefully help prevent the next pandemic,” said Gavin Cloherty, Abbott’s head of infectious disease research.

“We cannot fight what we cannot see coming. This programme establishes a global network of ‘eyes on the ground’ that are always looking for threats, which helps the global health community to stay one step ahead of the next viral threat, and allows us to utilise Abbott’s expertise and technology to quickly develop tests to address them,” he said.

The sequences of the viruses that are found will be published in a public database so that health officials and laboratories can work together to identify if it’s a novel strain, or a virus that has previously been detected, the note explained.

Virus hunting

Abbott has been virus hunting for about three decades now and the latest programme expands on this surveillance. The company is presently helping monitor for new variants or mutations to the virus that causes Covid-19. It is collecting virus samples from around the world and looking for mutations, the company said.

Recently, the company announced the discovery of a high prevalence of HIV Controllers – a group of people living with controlled HIV without antiretroviral medications in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which could hold the key to a cure. Abbott also announced the finding of a new strain of HIV in 2019.

Abbott’s “eyes on the ground” partners include: Colombia/Wisconsin One-Health Consortium at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Thailand’s Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University; Senegal’s Institut de Recherche en Santé; South Africa’s KRISP, Genomic Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal; US’ Rush University System for Health; Jamaica’s The University of the West Indies; Brazil’s Universidade de So Paulo and India’s YRG Care.

Dr Sunil Suhas Solomon, Chairman YRG Care, said, “If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that borders and countries only exist on maps. Viruses and pathogens transcend all these man-made boundaries highlighting the need for establishing a global network to monitor for emerging and re-emerging threats.” YRG Care has an existing collaboration with Abbott related to HIV and viral hepatitis among vulnerable Indian populations.

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