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Life Sciences

Shot In the Arm

by Adam Bruns

Not all the news from Davos is mere pontificating. Some of the events and announcements relate to real work and accomplishment, especially in the key arena of life sciences and healthcare.

Among the announcements taking place at the World Economic Forum this week was the news that a coalition of private-sector organizations with global supply chain and injection safety expertise has partnered with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support children’s health in 73 of the poorest countries. Strong vaccine supply chains and injection safety are important factors in increasing vaccination coverage, maintaining vaccine confidence and improving child health in poor countries.

The three-year partnership between Gavi and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (IFPW), a global association of pharmaceutical wholesalers focused on the storage and delivery of medicines, will bolster regional supply chain training centers in Benin and Rwanda, serving multiple countries in Africa.

“One of the largest obstacles to immunizing children in poor countries is getting the vaccines to them,” said Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley. “Vaccines are temperature sensitive, and the infrastructure in poor countries often is lacking. Partnerships, such as this one with IFPW which represents engagement of a whole new industry, are bringing new thinking and resources to help the Vaccine Alliance reach every child.” Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunization of an additional 440 million children and the prevention of approximately 6 million future deaths.

EndOfAntibiotics

Jeffrey M. Drazen (L), Editor-in-Chief, The New England Journal of Medicine, USA; Venki Ramakrishnan (C), Deputy Director, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom; and Jean Carlet (R), Consultant, Hopital Saint-Joseph, France, are captured during the interactive session “The End of Antibiotics” during the Annual Meeting 2015 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 21, 2015.

Photo by Remy Seinegger courtesy of World Economic Forum/swiss-image.ch

IFPW, whose members include Walgreens Boots Alliance and McKesson-Celesio, will provide a package of support, including US$1.5 million in cash and member expertise to ensure that aspiring students in Gavi-supported countries receive the training needed to become the next generation of supply chain managers.

“IFPW and its partners are, by nature, experts in managing healthcare supply chains and cold chains such as those required for proper vaccine handling,” said Ornella Barra, IFPW’s chair and CEO of Wallgreens Boots Alliance, earlier this week. “We look forward to sharing our industry’s knowledge, expertise and resources with Gavi and its partners to strengthen developing countries’ medical supply chains and to improve the availability of and access to vaccines for the children who need them.”

Gavi is also working with UPS, which is leveraging the expertise of its Global Healthcare Logistics Strategy Group to assist Gavi in developing and implementing an executive training and mentorship program to enhance the capability of local supply chain leaders.

Additionally, Gavi also announced two partnerships focused on improving injection safety. These are:

  • A new collaboration with Star Syringe, a UK-based medical research, design and development company, to leverage royalties on the company’s patented K1 auto-disposable syringe, which will provide up to US$2 million in cost savings to Gavi and developing countries;
  • An agreement by the Indian company Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices (HMD) to bring local knowledge and technical expertise, valued at up to US$1.5 million, in support of an upcoming WHO global injection safety campaign.

The new partnerships bring total private-sector contributions to Gavi to nearly US$230 million in cash and in-kind support, including those matched through the Gavi Matching Fund. Under the initiative, the UK’s Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation match contributions to Gavi from corporations, foundations, their members, customers, employees and business partners.

The new announcements come as Gavi partners and donors prepare to meet in Berlin next week under the patronage of German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel to secure the US$7.5 million required to fund vaccine programs in the world’s poorest countries from 2016 to 2020.

This week’s World Economic Forum also featured a conversation with Nobel Laureate Craig Mello and Breakthrough Prize winner Jennifer Doudna on the genomics revolution. Watch the session, entitled “Rewriting Human Genes.” Yet another compelling session was called “The End of Antibiotics.” And Saturday, Jan. 24, a panel including the directors of the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, as well as experts from Belgium, Australia, Mexico and the UK, will address the Global Science Outlook.

Energy Report

Shot in the Arm

Quick: Where is France’s leading port for both ore and coal imports and containerized fruit?

Marseille? Le Havre? No, and no.

It’s the Port of Dunkirk in northern France. Built in the 1970s, the port is only 25 km. (15.5 miles) from the Channel Tunnel, and is located well for connecting to the Benelux countries and northwestern Europe. The Port owns 17 km. (10.5 miles) of shoreline and 7,000 hectares (nearly 17,300 acres) of land. That includes 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) available for new development. It’s the leading manager of space in the Nord–Pas de Calais Region.

The latest big project taking place on some of that acreage is importing neither minerals nor fruit. It will bring in liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In October, the first stone was laid for Dunkirk’s new LNG terminal, which is scheduled to begin operating at the end of 2015. It is the second largest industrial project in France, after the Flamanville nuclear reactor project. When complete, the terminal will be able to berth the largest LNG tankers in the world and store 13 billion cubic meters (more than 459 billion cu. ft.) of gas a year, corresponding to 20 percent of the annual consumption of natural gas in France and Belgium.

The terminal’s maritime structures and platform will be built by Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque. The terminal itself will be built by Dunkerque LNG, a subsidiary of EDF Dunkerque LNG. And the structures connecting it to the French and Belgian networks will be developed by the operators GRT gaz and Fluxys.

EDF (Electricité de France) confirmed its planned €1-billion (US$1.4-billion) investment in the terminal in June 2011.

With its three liquefied natural gas storage tanks, the terminal will offer the network increased flexibility to supply gas-fired power stations which are able to meet peak electricity demands, especially in the winter months. EDF has opted to heat the liquefied natural gas using a zero-carbon method based partly on hot water discharged by the Gravelines nuclear plant, “thus ensuring that the terminal is at the forefront of energy efficiency developments.”

The site is set to employ up to 1,200 people in the Dunkirk area during the terminal development phase between 2012 and 2015, and is projected to create around 160 direct and indirect jobs during the operating phase. The infrastructure will also help revitalize port traffic, said EDF last fall, with an expected increase of more than 7 percent.”

“The Dunkirk LNG terminal strengthens the historical presence of EDF on the Dunkirk territory and contributes to the economic influence of the whole area,” said Henri Proglio, EDF’s chairman and CEO, in October. “This achievement, which is unique in being linked to two markets — France and Belgium — will play a major part in safeguarding and diversifying European gas supplies.”

Positive Context

The port’s total volume for all types of traffic was 47.22 million tons (MT) at the end of December. The port discontinued crude oil storage in 2012. But refined petroleum products rose by 7 percent.

In a recent release, the port announced that its 2012 investment budget, assessed at €96.8 million, had been revised to €136.9 million in May 2012 “to take account of the fast progress of work on the maritime infrastructures of the LNG terminal. This investment budget was stabilized at €139.9 million in October 2012,” with “energy and bulks” projects, including the LNG terminal project, accounting for nearly 89 percent of that total. The project is receiving €32.9 million in support for the LNG terminal project from the French government.

“After an exceptional year in 2012 due to work on the LNG terminal, Dunkerque-Port’s investment program returns to a more normal level in 2013, amounting to €51.3 million,” said the port, with energy and bulks accounting for €20 million of that total.

There’s more expansion in the works. November saw the Port of Dunkirk hold a grand opening for its bulk terminals, in particular to serve products derived from or intended for cement works. A Total refinery, which the global energy firm decided to close in 2010 to the mass displeasure of workers and residents, is being repurposed into “an industrial and technical facility with three new activities: a technical support center for refining operations, a training center for refining jobs and a logistics depot,” says Total.

Meanwhile, early this year, the European Commission announced it was directing 1.1 million (US$1.5 million) toward a feasibility study for a separate LNG bunkering station that would be fed directly from the terminal now under construction.

“LNG is rapidly emerging as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly fuel for the maritime sector and its uptake is encouraged by the European Union,” said a release from TEN-T, the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network executive agency.

The same agency is funding yet another study of ways to improve connections between the port and France’s national railway network.