Collaboration: The Key to Being Prepared for the Unexpected | Article

Resetting ambitions about what’s possible, lessons learned from Covid-19 

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Oxford, the world’s leading medical sciences research university, harnessed its past experiences with epidemics and mobilised its extensive scientific capabilities to partner with academic peers in China and Kenya, industry leaders including AstraZeneca, Thermo-Fisher, Roche and FujiFilm, public health agencies and health systems, and government to collectively drive forward the UK’s response to COVID-19.

And what a response it was.  Throughout the complex and intensive process of developing a new vaccine in less than a year, exploring and trialling the use of treatments for hospitalised patients and those at risk in the community, contributing skills to developing three rapid test technologies, and providing advice on face masks and vaccine hesitancy through on-going historical and literacy research, the University of Oxford and its partners have been key contributors to the global fight against COVID-19.

Following this success, the University formally launched its Pandemic Science Institute (PSI) in July 2022 with the purpose of “making the world safer through science”.  We spoke with Professor Sir Peter Horby, the inaugural director of the Institute and the Moh Family Foundation Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health, to find out more about how PSI aims to use partnership working and collaboration to benefit society as a whole.

Take us back to the start and Oxford University’s initial response to the outbreak

In the first weeks of the outbreak in China, I spoke to our Head of Department and we agreed that this could be the start of a pandemic, and that we must therefore urgently decide what needed to be done and then pull together all the resources of the University to work as one entity, on one path, no exceptions!

On day one we knew that industry partnerships would be critical and that proved to be the case at every stage of our response.  For example, when it came to the initial clinical trials in Wuhan, we had two parties that needed each other: we had a drug company with a drug they wished to evaluate and clinicians on the ground desperate to find a better treatment for patients.   By February 2020 the model of working collaboratively across the sectors became stronger and stronger.

We helped set up therapeutic trials in China, which led to the RECOVERY Trial in the UK.  The trial set out to test if some drugs currently in use in the UK could be repurposed and also whether new, unlicensed drugs were safe and effective.  The government gave us permission to access its NHS drug stocks and industry used our platform by donating their drugs for evaluation.

The results delivered by these partnerships were fantastic.  In a record breaking two years, the RECOVERY Trial evaluated ten medicines, finding that four were life-saving, whilst six were not. The results have changed clinical practice world-wide  and resulted in new market approvals.

This win-win collaborative model was also applied to vaccines.  The partnership between the University and AstraZeneca was a perfect example of the benefits of academia leading the early stage R&D and the clinical trials, and industry providing the manufacturing and distribution know-how. 

Again, with diagnostics, we brought together the expertise from academia, the public sector and industry partners.  The University provided the immunology and virology expertise whilst Thermo-Fisher supported the development of a high throughout robotics platform with the capability to process 50,000 specimens daily. This platform provided the national serology data for the highly influential Office for National Statistics COVID-19 survey.

That much progress over such a short period of time has never been made before.  Not in diagnostics, therapeutics nor vaccines. And yet not one of these partners could have done it on their own – the success was down to cross-sector collaboration.  There was also unequalled collaboration across the University departments, working across structural biology, therapeutics, vaccine development and diagnostics in a multi-disciplinary way not achieved hitherto. And so we thought, why not make that exceptional progress part of our everyday practice if we can, turning academic tools into practical solutions all the time, not exceptionally?  Why wait for another pandemic until we work like this again?  Let’s make the exceptional the everyday.

So the Pandemic Science Institute (PSI) was born … tell us about its main aims

PSI aims to unite disciplines and sectors, building agile, equitable partnerships that can tackle complex problems, enabling it to identify and counter current and future pandemic threats. We really want to create practical solutions to local problems and this collaborative way of doing things is a global step change into how we respond to emerging infections.

PSI is:

• generating actionable information and making this globally accessible;
• translating research into real-world solutions and making affordable health technologies, treatments and vaccines; and
• supporting public health interventions and identifying ways to strengthen societal and political engagement, resilience, and responsiveness.

Regardless of where you were born or live, or the level of your income or education, everyone has an equal right to the health and social benefits that science can offer.  PSI aims to make that a reality.

What are some of your lessons learnt when it comes to making such wide-ranging collaboration work for everyone?

Relationships are key; build them now

Over the past forty years Oxford has developed strong global collaborations which we were able to build on during the pandemic and this served as an integral foundation for us.  Then we forged new relationships in record time between academia, industry and public health bodies.  It’s incredibly important to create - and maintain - a trusting network.

Find the win-win

Working together required ongoing negotiations as organisations have different perspectives and it was natural that groups felt they had made some compromises to achieve what had been achieved.  You do have to compromise to get the best outcome but often the work that one partner is doing contributes to the work and ambitions of another.  It was so important to have that early – and constant - dialogue about how to make the partnership win-win.

Sketch out the full picture at the start

Every organisation/ sector/ industry has its own strengths … each partner has their own value.  Pandemic-prone infections often arise in challenging settings and timescales, and it is difficult for industry to operate in those contexts; it’s not where their business and experience sits.  For example, establishing a clinical trial in Wuhan within a matter of weeks and in the UK in a matter of days is not something that many, if any, companies could achieve.  However, clinical academics are perfectly placed to bridge that gap as we have experience with those diseases and settings. Academia excels at the early stages of R&D and the late stages of evaluating diagnostic tests, therapeutics and vaccines – whereas industry masters the bit in the middle such as the medicinal chemistry, quality assurance, and the last stage of manufacturing and distribution.  Government plays a key role in identifying the key policy and practice questions and ensuring the effective implementation and adoption of research findings.  

Foster a culture which rewards people for doing things differently

It’s easy to get used to doing things a certain way and operating within certain structures and silos.  When it came to the pandemic we all had to suddenly work across departments/ structures/ cultures/ disciplines/ sectors and do things differently – there was no time for academic or any other kind of competition.   For example, AstraZeneca had to move into vaccine development, a space with which they weren’t overly familiar, and enter into a not-for-profit manufacturing agreement which is unusual for the pharmaceutical industry.  Extreme pressure forces you to change habits. It’s a great catalyst.

Deliberately keep up the momentum

The pandemic has shown us that spectacular advances are possible through an alliance of science, the public sector and industry.  Look at what’s been created: digital disease control tools, diagnostic tests, life-saving treatments and vaccines … all at unprecedented speed.  We’re talking a 100-day turnaround instead of 3 – 6 years, and at substantially reduced costs. The prize of maintaining this way of working is immense.  But people and organisations tend to revert to type once pressure eases. We need to maintain the pace of innovation by keeping people focussed on what we now know is possible, to reset ambitions. 

Our aim is to continue our multi-sectoral, mutually beneficial collaboration day in and day out so that exceptional progress becomes everyday practice.  This is the surest way to prepare for another pandemic.

We’re extremely grateful to Professor Sir Peter Horby, of WIG member Oxford University, for sharing his knowledge and experiences with us, showcasing how collaboration really can change the world.

At The Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG), we believe society works better when people in business, government and the not-for-profit sectors can learn from each other and collaborate for the greater good. As an independent, non-lobbying charity, we make that happen.  Do take a look at the opportunities we provide for individuals, leaders and organisations to come together to share best practice, think differently and innovate in a trusted space.

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