Nordic Life Science 1
“This virus is amazingly well-adapted to humans,”
he says. “The way it replicates and secretes into the liver from blood, it has a shield, and is wrapped up in a coat of lipids to inhibit the effect of antibodies. It’s amazing to see how it evolves and adapts to humans. Hepatitis C antibodies are slower to build up. During this time, other things happen with an immune response and when antibodies appear, they are not as numerous as for hepatitis A and B and many other viruses.” Science now needs to apply some of the lessons from the hepatitis research to other diseases, especially the new coronavirus, and prepare for future pandemics, according to Houghton. “COVID-19 has taught us some important lessons. We need to bring those lessons into play as soon as possible.” While the swift development of the COVID-19 vaccine was a huge step toward containing the new coronavirus, the critical issue will be how long the immunity from the vaccine lasts, he cautions. “We all need to get vaccines as soon as possible, but we are going to want to see proof of durable immunity. We need to follow-up recipients in trials to see how long their immunity lasts. All signs are that we will need boosters, which could be the norm. We do that at a world level with the flu.” Better preparation and information sharing among nations and agencies will also be critical to preventing future pandemics, Houghton adds. Scientists learned a few months into the pandemic that the vaccine created for the SARS virus that broke out in 2003 could neutralize the coronavirus. “We could have used that to stop most of the spread of COVID-19. But when the SARS epidemic ended, companies stopped making the vaccine and didn’t store extra doses because of the cost. If they had made and stockpiled the SARS vaccine in 2003, we could have used that to stop most the spread of COVID.” World governments need to work together to help defray the cost of stockpiling vaccines to protect against future viruses, he adds, and research needs to be ongoing. “Everyone knows now how important infectious disease research is. We should have larger budgets for this, now that we know we can really can make a vaccine in world-record time. It usually takes ten years, so we have to apply that strategy to other infections. The new RNA technology helped researchers work fast, but also everyone worked together.” That cooperation needs to continue and expand, adds Houghton. “All the countries of the world have to discuss what they can do at a public health level to minimize the creation of another pandemic. We need to cut down exposure to livestock, for one. We need to discuss the situation calmly and maturely and the World Health Organization (WHO) needs to organize that. We can’t play the blame game. Let’s get together maturely and discuss this. We have to do what we can to minimize pandemics.” NLS Age: 71 Born: United Kingdom Nationality: Dual American and British citizenship. College: University of East Anglia, King’s College, PhD in biochemistry. Personal: Married with two children, one grandchild. When he is not working, Houghton says he enjoys cricket, golf and soccer and spending time with his family. He is looking forward to spending time with his granddaughter and visiting his son in Hawaii when the pandemic is under control. NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG 83