Shift Health Co-sponsors Two-Day Boot Camp on Importance, Intricacies of Vaccine Product Development

A powerful group of the world’s leading vaccine researchers and product development experts from six continents, including representatives from government, academia, industry and the not-for-profit sector, gathered last week in New York City at a first-of-its-kind Product Development Boot Camp, shedding light on the complex process of turning scientific discoveries into useful innovations.

Co-hosted by healthcare strategy consultancy Shift Health and the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, the Product Development Boot Camp afforded workshop participants an opportunity to discuss best practices, to learn from the experience of other experts and to create an enduring resource and toolkit that will serve the HIV vaccine field and beyond.

Product development refers to the multifaceted, long-term, highly regulated process that brings promising new drugs, vaccines and medical devices to the populations who most need them. In fields such as HIV vaccine development, where the absence of commercial incentives can make it difficult for companies to lead this process on their own, inventors need to work in partnership with diverse stakeholders and funders to maximize the social and economic impact of their research.

The Boot Camp featured a number of modules targeting key elements of product development, including pipeline and portfolio considerations, why and how to create a target product profile (TPP), moving vaccine candidates from bench to clinic, planning for trial outcomes and best practices in product development partnerships.

“Over the past decade, Shift Health has enjoyed the great privilege of working with leaders in the HIV vaccine development arena—beginning with the US Military HIV Research Program and the RV144 partnership and extending to impactful collaborations with National Institutes of Health Division of AIDS, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, Sanofi Pasteur, and the Pox-Protein Public-Private Partnership. Through all of these collaborations, we have operated at the critical—and challenging—nexus of researchers, funders, industry and community stakeholders, whose respective expertise, resources and license are critical to product development success,” said Ryan Wiley, PhD, president at Shift Health.

Download Shift Health’s presentation on Planning for Trial Success.

Download Shift Health’s presentation on Product Development Partnerships.