When was the last time you recall multiple sectors of society coming together to achieve something phenomenal? The true power of the human race, so to say.
I recall two events. One - the invention of a viable COVID vaccine along with its subsequent rapid commercialization and second – the use of gene editing to truly personalize treatment for patients with genetic disorders. Massive efforts across boundaries, across organizations with hundreds and thousands of minds made both efforts a remarkable success. Let’s dig deeper.
COVID-19, a truly life changing event. Imagine shutting down the whole world, COVID-19 managed to do just that. It was also unprecedented in another sense – the development of a viable vaccine in just about a year, while typically the process is measured in decades. It was a historic collaboration of governments, pharmaceutical companies, international organizations and academic institutions. The US rolled out Operation Warp Speed, a public private partnership to accelerate vaccine development. Pfizer (US) partnered with BioNTech (Germany) to come up with a mRNA vaccine, while another US company Moderna partnered with a US government body, NIH. The UK funded Oxford-AstraZeneca’s (an academia – pharma org partnership) vaccine, which was manufactured in bulk by Serum Institute, based in India. UNICEF (COVAX, grouping of 190 countries), UPS, FedEx, GAVI, WHO and other private players all played a part in the distribution of the vaccine globally. This summary does not even cover the efforts of China, Russia and numerous other relatively smaller players. Clinical development, regulatory approval, manufacturing scale-up and distribution happened at breakneck speed with nearly 11 billion doses produced and ready for administering in under two years since the first COVID-19 case was reported.
The other event is pretty astounding as well, while of a much smaller scale and shorter timeline, it personifies the adage “when minds come together, anything is possible”. A baby in Philadelphia, US was diagnosed with CPS1 deficiency, a rare genetic disorder with a mortality rate over 50% within the first few weeks of life. CPS1 restricts the body’s ability to safely eliminate ammonia, that builds up during protein breakdown; and increasing levels of ammonia in the body results in organ damage. The paediatrician treating the baby, collaborated with a researcher, Dr. Kiran, at the University of Pennsylvania to develop a custom CRISPR (the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists who discovered the CRISPR method) gene editing therapy in under 6 months - an effort that typically takes years. PS: There is only one other CRISPR-based medicine commercially available today.
Dr. Kiran in turn worked with another researcher, Dr. Fyodor at UC Berkley. Dr. Fyodor collaborates with a corporation, Danaher that partners with at least three other biotech firms for producing the clinical-grade gene editing therapies. Several of these companies provided free access to advanced equipment, proprietary know-how and components for the baby’s treatment. The US regulatory body, FDA, played its part by fast-tracking the approval process.
A monumental multidisciplinary effort spanning clinical paediatricians, dozens of researchers across universities, and multiple biotech firms led to the baby receiving the treatment in under 6 months. This was all built on the foundation of decades of federally funded research into human genome sequencing, editing and more. The baby, who likely would not have survived more than a few weeks without the treatment, is about 10 months old now, doing well under close monitoring.
These are two examples of programs in the 21st century that transcended boundaries, moved governments, researchers, and companies into action to create truly inspiring work. I have to admit - I feel an almost electric tingle when reading stories like this.
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References:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01496-z
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/health/gene-editing-personalized-rare-disorders.html
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/decades-making-mrna-covid-19-vaccines
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/health/covid-vaccines-covax-gavi.html
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