Cainiao to work with Ethiopian Airlines for cold chain air freight

Source: Alibaba Group. Cainiao will send temperature-controlled medicines like COVID-19 vaccines around the world excluding Africa via Dubai with the help of Ethiopian Airlines.

Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, the logistics arms of Alibaba Group Holdings, is partnering Ethiopian Airlines to launch a special cold chain air freight for the transportation of temperature-controlled medicines from Shenzhen Airport, China's first medical cross-border cold chain facility.

Temperature-controlled medicines will be distributed twice a week from Shenzhen to Africa, and to the rest of the world via Dubai and Addis Ababa. This is China's first cross-border medical cold chain route to be operated regularly and is certified to transport temperature-controlled medicines including COVID-19 vaccines.

The end-to-end transportation process requires highly-effective cold chain management. The cold chain cabin is equipped with a temperature control system that monitors the cabin’s temperature in real-time. As the fourth airport in Mainland China that obtained International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) certification for pharmaceutical logistics, Shenzhen Airport is also well-equipped to handle biotechnology products. 

The cargo terminal in Ethiopia is outfitted with compartmentalised cold storage facilities with temperature between -23℃ to 25℃. It occupies an area of 54,000 sq m, with dedicated cool dollies and a pharma team, as well as a real-time temperature monitoring system to ensure a safe and seamless cold chain logistics for handling temperature-sensitive healthcare products.

Cool dollies are containers designed to transport temperature-sensitive items between cargo warehouses and aircraft.

“Cainiao’s global logistics network spans over 200 countries and regions, providing end-to-end integrated logistics services, including digital customs clearance capabilities,” said James Zhao, GM, Cainiao International Supply Chain.

“The launch of the cold chain air freight has further bolstered our global logistics capabilities, and allow us to offer a one-stop solution for the global distribution of medical products such as the COVID-19 vaccines.”

Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Group CEO said, “Ethiopian Airlines will repeat its remarkable and globally-recognised success in leading the fast delivery of PPEs few months ago with similar delivery speed, professional handling and maintaining the cold chain during the forthcoming global distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. In anticipation of the COVID-19 vaccine release, we will be at the forefront to further discharge our responsibility in the distribution of the vaccine across the globe.” PPE stands for personal protective equipment.

Cainiao’s launch of the Green Channel initiative this year to fight the pandemic has helped in the distribution of 250 million pieces of PPE, including COVID-19 test kits, to medical suppliers in over 150 countries and regions. In collaboration with its partners, Cainiao has also helped to transport medical relief items for international organisations during the pandemic.

Mutations of COVID-19 virus unlikely to affect existing vaccines

New research by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has shown potential vaccines should not be affected by how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has changed to date.

Most vaccines under development worldwide have been modelled on the original ‘D-strain’ of the virus, which were more common amongst sequences published early in the pandemic. Since then, the virus has evolved such that the ‘G-strain’ is globally dominant. The G variant now accounts for about 85% of published SARS-CoV-2 genomes, CSIRO said.

There had been fears that the G-strain, or ‘D614G’ mutation within the main protein on the surface of the virus, would negatively impact on vaccines under development. Researchers have found no evidence to date that the change would adversely impact the efficacy of vaccine candidates.

Source: CSIRO. Biomolecular
modelling of the
COVID-19 spike protein.

Published today in npj Vaccines, the study tested blood samples from ferrets vaccinated with Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ INO-4800 candidate against virus strains that either possessed or lacked this ‘D614G’ mutation. 

The study was undertaken in parallel to the pre-clinical trial of INO-4800 at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), CSIRO’s high-containment biosecurity facility in Geelong, Victoria.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said the research was critically important in the race to develop a vaccine. “This brings the world one step closer to a safe and effective vaccine to protect people and save lives,” Dr Marshall said.

"Research like this, at speed, is only possible through deep collaboration with partners both in Australia and around the world.

“We are tackling these challenges head-on, together, and delivering real world solutions from world-leading Australian science.”

Dr SS. Vasan, CSIRO’s Dangerous Pathogens Team Leader and the senior author of the paper, said this was good news for the hundreds of vaccines in development around the world, with the majority targeting the spike protein.

“Most COVID-19 vaccine candidates target the virus’ spike protein as this binds to the ACE2 receptors in our lungs and airways, which are the entry point to infect cells,” Dr Vasan said.

“Despite this ‘D614G’ mutation to the spike protein, we confirmed through experiments and modelling that vaccine candidates are still effective.

“We’ve also found the G-strain is unlikely to require frequent ‘vaccine matching’ where new vaccines need to be developed seasonally to combat the virus strains in circulation, as is the case with influenza.”

Dr Alex McAuley, CSIRO research scientist and first author of the paper, said ferrets vaccinated with INO-4800 demonstrated a strong immune response.

“We found that ferrets vaccinated with Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ candidate developed a good B-cell response in terms of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 strains, which is important for the short-term efficacy of a vaccine,” Dr McAuley said.

“We are also studying the T-cell response which is important for long-term efficacy.”

The Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory provided a G-strain isolate from a patient sample to enable this study. The results of the study were further interpreted with biomolecular modelling conducted by CSIRO's digital specialist arm, Data61.

The modelling enabled the interactions between the vaccine and virus to be simulated and visualised, according to Dr Michael Kuiper, co-author and Team Leader of the Molecular & Materials Modelling Group at CSIRO’s Data61.

“If we understand the process of a viral infection, we paint a picture of its vulnerabilities. Biomolecular modelling helps us to do this,” Dr Kuiper said.

“By visualising molecular structure, we were able to support the study’s inference that the immune response generated by the vaccine candidate is equally effective against both D- and G- strains of SARS-CoV-2.”

CSIRO recently concluded preclinical studies for two vaccine candidates (from Inovio Pharmaceuticals and the University of Oxford) at the ACDP, with peer-reviewed reports to be published in the coming months.

Explore:

Read the paper.

GSK fast-tracks development of Ebola vaccine candidate

Update: On 22 October 2014, GSK announced its 3rd quarter results for fiscal 2014. At the accompanying analyst call, Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK said: "Given the apparent health emergency we are leaving no stone unturned in this project and, if all goes well, I fully expect GSK to be the first company in a position to make a vaccine available to health agencies and governments, hopefully towards the end of 2014."

GSK has announced that it is working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), regulators and other partners to respond to the Ebola outbreak, accelerating development of its investigational Ebola vaccine, and ramping up production as quickly as possible.

According to the company, development of the vaccine candidate is progressing "at an unprecedented rate", with first phase 1 safety trials with the vaccine candidate under way in the US, UK and Mali. Further trials are due to start in the coming weeks.
"We are actively exploring with relevant organisations and partners all opportunities to accelerate the development of manufacturing at an industrial scale so that if the trials are successful, we will be in a position to significantly ramp up production of the vaccine candidate to help combat this or future Ebola outbreaks," the company said in a statement on its website dated October 18. 

Initial data from the phase 1 trials are expected by the end of the year and if successful, the next phases of the clinical trial programme will begin in early 2015. This will involve the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. "If the vaccine candidate is able to protect these healthcare workers as we hope it will, it could significantly contribute to efforts to bring this epidemic under control," the company added.

GSK is also working with the WHO, regulators and other stakeholders on logistics, to determine how and when near-term supplies of the Ebola vaccine could be made available for targeted vaccination of additional healthcare workers and other people at high risk of infection in the affected countries where the impact would be most likely to limit the further spread of the epidemic. Safety and the supply chain will come into play for mass vaccination campaigns. GSK said it will depend on whether the vaccine candidate provides protection against Ebola without causing significant side effects and how quickly large enough quantities can be made.

GSK acquired this Ebola vaccine candidate through the acquisition of a biotechnology company, Okairos, in May 2013 and has since been working with the US National Institutes of Health to develop this vaccine candidate in response to the threat of Ebola.

The WHO and partner organizations said tools are being developed to help any country to intensify and accelerate their readiness.

One of these tools is a comprehensive checklist of core principles, standards, capacities and practices, which all countries should have or meet. The checklist can be used by countries to assess their level of preparedness, guide their efforts to strengthen themselves and to request assistance. Items on the checklist include infection prevention control, contact tracing, case management, surveillance, laboratory capacity, safe burial, public awareness and community engagement and national legislation and regulation to support country readiness.

“While we rightly focus on stopping the outbreak in affected countries, we should not forget that all other countries are at risk, albeit at varying levels,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo.

Also under development is a framework to measure the key milestones and mutual accountability for assessment by international partners and countries. The tools are being reviewed by experts and will be made public available shortly, stated the WHO on October 10.

Read the blog post on what we know about Ebola so far here.