01-31-2021, 11:55 PM
(01-31-2021, 11:33 PM)jeffster Wrote: So apparently there is a Made in Canada solution. However, the business is having a hard time getting the attention of the government.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7608677/coron...rapeutics/
Having spoken to some experts as to the why, it appears it's because this is a Western Canada based company. It's in Calgary, so their is little interest from current government. Just a reminder how this country works, though, is the the Fed are building a facility in Montreal. Won't be ready any time soon.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-compa...-1.5159056
But one needs to follow the money. I don't like what I am seeing here. But follow the money. We have here a very crooked government. And sorry for making this post political, but I am sick and tired of this lockdown. IF we have an in-house solution that could have emergency use, f'en us it. OMG. We can't! It's in Alberta! Perhaps fund this company in Calgary and give this vaccine a shot after you finish testing, and perhaps all of us could get a shot by July.
BUT....NO. When it comes to stuff like this, politics need to be put to the side. Who cares that Western Canada hates you? You do nothing for them. I don't blame them. But people are dying, in including people in Quebec. Get the freaking vaccine and don't make this about yourself.
And please, don't defend these actions. Follow the money.
The Providence Therapeutics story makes great headlines, but your anti-Calgary conspiracy theories are frankly pure bullshit.
Provide Therapeutics is a tiny startup, as in ~30 employees tiny. Could they have made a Covid-19 vaccine? Maybe, they do have some experience with mRNA tech, but their ability to scale manufacturing is really questionable. I definitely think awarding them a huge vaccine contract would be an incredibly risky move for the government. Right now mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) are the stars, but that wasn't obvious 6-9 months ago when these decisions were being made. The Covid-19 vaccines are the first ever mRNA vaccines approved. Giving huge amounts of money to a ~30 person company with risky unproven tech would not be my first choice, when there's other players out there with a lot more experience and resources behind them.
The vaccine that did get funded in Montreal was a Medicago-GSK project, with GSK being one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It's also using a more traditional vaccine technology. Both of those, if you're investing 6-9 months ago, make it a far safer bet.
No amount of money would make a Providence Therapeutics vaccine ready for mass distribution in 2021. They're just starting phase 1 trials now, and building a new mRNA manufacturing facility isn't exactly easy. I definitely think we should invest in domestic mRNA vaccine capability, and maybe Providence Therapeutics is a good way to do so, but that's a "next pandemic" sort of issue.