Pierre J. Jeanniot
O.C.,C.Q.,B.Sc.,LL.D.,D.Sc.
Address to the 8th International Symposium of the International
FAV: Funding the Fight Against Pandemic Diseases
Closing dinner address to the 8th International Symposium of the International Consortium on Anti-Virals (ICAV)
Ajaccio, Corsica, October 5, 2009 >>
Thank you Mr. Chairman … for those kind words.
Good evening … ladies and gentlemen.
I am very much honoured … indeed … to have been asked to say a few words … on the occasion of this prestigious Gala dinner.
As I look around the room … it is obvious that … we have here the makings of a very successful evening … which … as you know … usually requires … a gathering of highly intelligent … well-educated people … engaged in fascinating conversation … and slightly drunk!
Well … we certainly have most of the required elements … and we can keep on working on that last condition!
Ladies and gentlemen … I am well aware that … no speech is entirely bad … if it is short … and I intend to be guided by this appropriate observation.
But I will not allow myself to be too restricted in words … when I express the great admiration I have … for each of you … eminent scientists … who have volunteered to join the fight … against the ever-present threat … of global pandemic diseases.
Your continued good work has already … and will continue … to save millions of lives … and despite my promise to be brief … I cannot say enough in praise … of your selflessness … generosity … and dedication to mankind … for which we are most deeply grateful..
The ICAV 8th international symposium … is being held … at a crucial moment … in the history of pandemics … and hopefully will show that progress is being made on several critical fronts.
The fact that HIV … is yet to have a truly successful vaccine after 25 years … and billions of dollars of research effort … certainly merits a review … on how to deal with this nasty virus in the future.
This naturally includes the development of future HIV therapies … whether vaccines or antivirals … as well as the important role of the community in addressing the needs of HIV infected people.
Most interesting … and worthwhile … was the session devoted … to the integration of all aspects of dengue research … to design innovative virus control strategies.
It was disturbing to be reminded … and I do hope that the government authorities are equally concerned … that classical response schemes … involving grant-funded research … massive and rapid diagnosis … clinical trials … patient care etc … are not suitable for a crisis situation of the magnitude … and speed of propagation … of the H1N1 type of pandemic.
ICAV’s identification of the gaps … and their proposals to bridge those gaps will … I am sure … go a long way in fighting the disease … as will the suggested improvements in surveillance … and predictive methods for human-to-human transmission.
Like most laymen … with only a rudimentary knowledge of your highly specialized field … I cannot pretend to understand much of the scientific progress … that you have achieved … and have been exchanging at this symposium.
In truth … you could well be wondering … what I … an aviation executive … am doing here … short of hobnobbing with some of the best scientific minds in the world.
Which in itself is certainly not unpleasant! … But let me briefly address the question.
Over the many … very many years … I have been involved with the aviation industry … earlier as President of an airline … then as the head of the International Air Transport Association … IATA … I often talked about the important economic and social contribution … that our industry has made to the world.
The contribution of aviation to international tourism was obvious … but beyond that .. the stimulation we brought to international trade was extensive … and generated much economic growth … and job creation.
Together … with the development of the current worldwide electronic communications network … we were bringing the world closer together … helping to create the Marshall McLuhan vision of the global village … promoting a better understanding … and appreciation … of our differences and cultures.
These are exciting … and worthy achievements … but there was another side to the coin.
Over the past few years … I came to realize … how the growth of international air travel has aided … and abetted … the worldwide spread of infectious viral diseases.
Unfortunately …for many of my colleagues … still today … and for the public and governments generally … it was a virtual elephant in the room … still largely invisible … despite an important wake-up call in 2003.
It was then … in 2003 … that SARS struck.
Spreading from mainland China … to all corners of the world in a matter of weeks … the SARS epidemic shocked the world …causing global damage estimated at 300 billion dollars … and driving my industry into yet another financial crisis.
SARS was forewarning us … of the disastrous social and economic consequences … of a more serious and widespread pandemic … but not many were listening!
Almost every country in the world … now enjoys international airline service … such that any point of the world … can be reached in less than a day. … This vast network can allow pandemic infections … to circle the globe … in a matter of hours.
The world’s airlines carry approximately two and a half billion passengers a year … that is a lot of opportunities for transmitting diseases.
I am told that infectious diseases already kill some 17 million people a year worldwide … but this is nothing compared to the devastation … that a serious pandemic would cause today.
ICAV … as you well know … was founded after the model developed by Canadian scientists … in response to the SARS crisis.
It is a unique and innovative model … of international scientific collaboration.
But … like many good causes … it suffers from lack of funds.
The first stage of therapies development – … the discovery of new promising antivirals – … is largely … if not completely supported by grants obtained by you … ICAV-affiliated researchers.
The latter stages … when commercialization is anticipated … can be supported by the pharmaceutical companies.
But the critical stages … of pre-clinical and clinical trials … receive little public or industry funding. … This is where we … of the Foundation on Antivirals (FAV) … are to come in.
From conception to realization … FAV took more than a year and a half …
Conceived in late 2007 … FAV received its charitable status from the Government of Canada in February of this year … and … I’m pleased to report … that with a contribution from the Government of Québec and Montréal International … we were able to establish the international secretariat in Montréal … as of last May.
As the founding Chairman of this new international Foundation … I was very pleased to welcome Monsieur Jacques Chirac … former President of France … and the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien … former Prime Minister of Canada … who have both agreed to be Honorary Patrons.
Our prestigious Board of Directors includes two gentlemen you already know … Jocelyn Beaudoin … who is president and CEO of FAV … and Michel Chrétien …who is FAV’s Scientific Director … and of course a co-founder of ICAV.
David Hill … a distinguished lawyer, and Pierre McCann … a senior CIBC Executive … serve as Secretary and Treasurer of the Foundation.
Other Directors include Ronald Allen … retired Chairman and CEO of Delta Airlines … Jean-Claude Baumgarten …President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council … and Jeremy Carver … whom of course you know as the co-founder and president of ICAV.
Another airline colleague … Ali Ghandour … former President and CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines … is also on the Board … as are Peter Harbison … Executive President of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation – Australia … Urban Joseph … retired Vice-Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank … the Honourable Michael Meighen … a member of the Canadian Senate … and Alain Mérieux … President of the Fondation Mérieux – France.
All in all … we have built a prestigious network of influential … high-profile personalities … who are all committed to promoting the Foundation around the world … and to the achievement of its financial goals … so essential to reaching our common humanitarian objectives.
To increase the international visibility of our cause … we need to persuade
more people of “influence and affluence” … to join the list of our Honorary Patrons … Board members … and Governors.
My friend Ali Ghandour … who is a former advisor to his Majesty the late King Hussein of Jordan … has already agreed to approach a very important Middle-East personality about becoming an honorary patron of FAV … and so increase our presence in this region.
We’ll need your help … in identifying and recruiting … high-profile ambassadors from your respective regions and countries …who are well positioned to help solicit substantial donations … and/or … to make generous personal gifts.
It would also be invaluable to have your support …and on occasion your participation … in FAV’s efforts to solicit the major international corporations … and government decision makers … headquartered within your respective borders.
Based on a preliminary study of potential donors … the goal for our first campaign is $100 million by March 31 … 2015.
However … the Foundation’s official launch will not take place until next spring. … By then we hope to be in a position to announce … that a significant portion of this initial fundraising target has been raised … or pledged.
Our strategy is to concentrate … in this first year … on major international corporations present in Canada … and then to rapidly expand our fundraising efforts to the United States … Europe … the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Funds raised by FAV will be allocated by the Board … on the basis of a recommendation from its Scientific Committee … based … of course … on a specific proposal from ICAV’s Scientific Committee.
Regular progress reports … charting results … will be presented to the FAV Board … and shared with our donors.
Our objective is to contribute to the development of at least one new antiviral therapy every five years.
Donors will be publicly recognized in a variety of ways – … through publications … galas … special events … and so on.
Donors of one million dollars or more … or those instrumental in raising this amount … will be recognized as “Governors.” … The first ten will be recognized as “Founding Governors.”
Our initial approach to fund raising is traditional … in that it targets major corporations, … Perhaps also slightly innovative … in so far as it will focus on those corporations which could themselves be agents of propagation by the nature of their geographically wide-spread activities.
Our next fund raising efforts … will fall into the category of real innovative financing … of the type that was described in the first session on Saturday morning.
As Dr. Douste – Blazy pointed out in his remarks … traditional sources of funding have proven to be clearly insufficient … to achieve the health-related Milennium goals.
The plan to expand UNITAID Millennium financing … from a tax on airline tickets to focus on the travel trade as a whole … in fact … arose from my initial discussion with Dr. Douste-Blazy.
I made this suggestion in the spirit of complementarity which I felt was evident between our two activities. … We develop new therapies for the developing world … and UNITAID/Millennium distributes them.
Since we both intend to rely on innovative fund-raising strategies involving the travel and tourism industry … it could be beneficial to join our efforts … and we have held some preliminary discussions to that effect.
The tourism industry has already suffered much from virus-caused pandemics … and has a lot to lose … and conversely much to gain from the development of successful antiviral therapies..
Tourism is concerned. … This was echoed recently by many media … including the FIGARO … which on the 22nd of September stated “La grippe A enrage le tourisme! “ Some seventy-five travel agents had gone bankrupt in the first half of this year in France alone … in part as a result of decreases in tourism that were virus-related.
Ladies and gentlemen … we need to remind our fellow citizens that epidemics have come close to wiping out mankind … since the beginning of recorded history.
As early as 430 BC … typhoid killed a quarter of the population of Athens over four years.
From about 540 AD … the Plague of Justinian … or bubonic plague …went on to eliminate half the human population of the known world – … though it spared Justinian himself who was infected … but survived!
The Black Death … which started in the 1300s … killed 75 million people … including half of England’s population.
Since 1816 … cholera has caused seven pandemics … the latest in the mid-sixties.
Epidemics have killed entire indigenous populations. … Up to 95% of the Native American population of the New World … was killed by Old World infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza.
We have been reminded that not every segment of the population is affected in the same way. … This spring … influenza hit Canada’s Haida … and other native communities … first and deepest … and it could well get much worse.
Almost all of these diseases … as well as typhus … tuberculosis … leprosy … malaria … yellow fever … and … more recently … SARS … are still around.
To this day … smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated.
The world seems to suffer from generational amnesia … and needs a strong and loud wakeup call!
Modern science may have reduced the impact of infectious diseases on local populations … but modern travel has extended their range… and the rapidity with which they spread.
Our rapid … and extensive scientific advances … have indeed given us a false sense of security. … Mankind is still very vulnerable to a massive bacterial or viral attack!
Regretfully … the developed world is still too insensitive to the plight of the developing regions of the world … as if they lived on a different planet!
We are shocked about the death of a few people in Western Europe or North America … but disinterested about half a million deaths in Africa.
AIDS could kill 31 million people in India … and 18 million in China by 2025.
The AIDS death toll in Africa may reach 90-100 million by 2025.
Equally worrisome for the future … are antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” … which may contribute to the re-emergence of diseases … which had been well controlled … such as tuberculosis.
Over-reliance on antibiotics is a factor in the re-emergence … and it raises a similar issue … with respect to the amount of government money going to the development of vaccines … versus antiviral therapies … which are effective even in the treatment of new viruses such as H1N1.
Three very important infectious diseases now receiving antiviral attention from ICAV – … H1N1 influenza … dengue fever … and HIV/AIDS … have the potential to do a lot of damage.
Assuming a pandemic as severe as that of 1918 … 71 million people could die from H1N1 influenza.
And then there are already 50 million reported cases worldwide of dengue fever.
The disease killed 20,000 people in 2008 … and over 2.5 billion are at risk … mostly children and adolescents.
Ladies and gentlemen … there is a lot of difficult work for you … to do in the years ahead.
As Plutarch wrote 2,000 years ago … “Research is the art of going up alleys … to see if they are blind.”
Research is painful … frustrating … often exasperating … and requires taking risks. … One needs patience … determination … dedication … and you have those great qualities.
With much of your research being funded by government grants … there will no doubt be a need to raise the profile of our worthy cause with governmentl authorities … and minimize the invariably creeping paralysis … too often associated with the bureaucratic process!
Looking ten years down the road … FAV’s vision is to be recognized as the “premier” international Foundation … dedicated to the development of antiviral therapies.
We can only deliver this … of course … through our close affiliation with ICAV … and as a result of ICAV’s increasingly successful identification of promising new therapies.
Ladies and gentlemen … some seventy years ago … Antoine de St. Exupery … an aviation pioneer and a great humanist … disappeared over the Mediterranean … on a flight from Corsica to Marseille.
In his famous book “The Little Prince” … one of the characters observes … “What is essential in life … is often invisible to the eye”. … Let me add … “it is the caring for mankind which makes your contribution so special.”
FAV is very proud to share with each of you … and ICAV … the objective of developing successful … and cost effective … new antiviral therapies … by harvesting the best ideas … from the best minds … for the benefit of all mankind.
Thank you.
