Messenger RNA is the most effective vaccine technology on the planet. In the worldwide race for a COVID vaccine, messenger RNA was the fastest by months, and it was the most effective, at 95% efficacy. It will be the fastest to respond to the variants that are emerging now. It is the most scalable vaccine technology, having gone from novel technology to rolling out hundreds of millions of doses within six months.
The committee will recall that prior to November 2020, no mRNA drug, vaccine or otherwise had ever been approved for use in humans. In fact, prior to 2020, Moderna and BioNTech, the inventor of the Pfizer vaccine, had never even run a phase three trial, yet these untested and unproven companies are now Canada's lifeline to safety and economic stability.
In 2020, Providence designed a vaccine in under four weeks. We negotiated and paid for a licence to the necessary intellectual property, established productive collaborations with other companies across Canada and completed over five preclinical animal trials to establish the safety and efficacy of our vaccine. We qualified a “good manufacturing practices”—or GMP—manufacturing process and manufactured enough vaccine to complete all of our clinical trials. We prepared a successful clinical trial application, and we were given the green light, known as “authorization”, by Health Canada to proceed in phase one trials.
In 2021, Providence will manufacture and sell vaccines directly to Canada's provinces. It will build out manufacturing capacity covering the entire value chain of messenger RNA vaccine production, from the earliest raw material to the final formulation and fill finish. It will complete the clinical trial process with Health Canada and secure all the necessary approvals to enable the provinces to administer those vaccines to Canadians. Providence will accelerate its work on booster doses for variants and bring its second-generation vaccine, using both B- and T-cell mediated immune protection, into the clinic.
In short, Providence will do all that is necessary to ensure Canadians have the earliest access to the best vaccines.
I look forward to your questions.