Leading amid global uncertainty
Leadership in a time of global uncertainty is not about perfect anticipation; it’s about seeing the possibilities and acting on them before others do, said Emmanuel P. “Manny” Maceda, worldwide managing partner at Bain & Company.
Mr. Maceda spoke at the launch of this year’s edition of Makati Business Club’s signature series Leading in Extraordinary Times, in partnership with BusinessWorld.
In its third year, the series highlights the practices of global and Philippine executives, and aims to accelerate job creation and economic growth.
In his speech, Mr. Maceda outlined the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and other global events on digital transformation; environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives; and the future of industries.
The world responded to the pandemic with varying success. At the start of 2022, things were looking up as companies and societies learned to operate in a hybrid world. Economies were rebounding and markets were up.
Another surge driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant caused supply chain shortages but industries were reasonably optimistic. The top challenge for many companies was labor — there were many jobs but not enough people to fill them.
In February, Russia invaded Ukraine, creating another series of shocks to the system, with huge implications on global energy and food supplies, all of which has caused inflation.
“This is the most uncertain time we’ve ever experienced … we must anticipate continued turbulence,” said Mr. Maceda at the launch this June.
Chief executive officers must possess three critical elements to help their company achieve full potential amid turbulence and uncertainty, he said: prediction, or the ability to anticipate change ahead of time; adaptability, or having the flexibility to course correct as the external environment evolves; and resilience, or the capacity to survive and recover from sudden shocks.
The biopharmaceutical industry demonstrated these qualities throughout its pandemic response. Years of investment in research and development (R&D) — even in the face of costly failures — laid the groundwork for shortened development timelines for the mRNA and viral vector vaccines now in use against SARS-CoV-2.
The development of the first vaccine approved for human use took less than a year, while the first batches of vaccines from research-based pharmaceutical companies came in early 2021.
Effective voluntary partnerships also accelerated R&D and manufacturing for COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments. More than 330 partnerships bolstered manufacturing capacity, facilitated technology and knowledge transfer, and drove historically rapid R&D.
In close coordination with the government, regulatory flexibility and convergence helped ensure safety and speed of access. COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics were developed in record time due to the extraordinary degree of collaboration between industry and national and regional regulatory authorities.
Biopharmaceutical R&D is also about seeing possibilities. Pfizer, for example, has announced a next-generation bivalent COVID-19 vaccine candidate called BNT162b5, which consists of RNAs encoding enhanced prefusion spike proteins for the SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain (wild-type) and an Omicron variant.
The company said that enhanced spike protein encoded from the mRNAs in BNT162b5 has been modified with the aim of increasing the magnitude and breadth of the immune response that could better protect against COVID-19.
Moderna, meanwhile, is advancing two bivalent candidates for utilization in global vaccination efforts. The mRNA-1273.214 bivalent booster candidate is based on the Omicron subvariant BA.1 and has demonstrated positive clinical data against variants of concern, including Omicron. Moderna said that the second bivalent booster candidate, mRNA 1273.222, is based on the BA.4/5 strain.
AstraZeneca earlier announced a preliminary analysis which said that data from a trial showed increased antibody response against Delta, Alpha, and Gamma variants following a third dose of its vaccine. Another analysis of samples from the trial also showed higher antibody response to the Omicron variant.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) also announced that preliminary data from a study demonstrated 85% effectiveness for the homologous booster shot of J&J against COVID-19 related hospitalization in South Africa where Omicron was then dominant.
For the biopharmaceutical industry, it’s crucial to see the endless possibilities and to act on them immediately. Doing so could help save more lives and eventually jumpstart the economy.
TEODORO B. PADILLA is the executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), which represents the biopharmaceutical medicines and vaccines industry in the country. Its members are at the forefront of research and development efforts for COVID-19 and other diseases that affect Filipinos.
