The Use of Antivirals for Influenza
APACI 2020 Webinar Series on Pandemic Preparedness
Topic 1: The Current Antiviral Landscape and the Role of antivirals in a Pandemic
17 November 2020
Speakers
Prof Dominic Dwyer – Clinical Professor, Western Clinical School, University of Sydney
Professor Dwyer is a microbiologist and Director of Pathology West network for NSW Health. He trained in microbiology (virology and infectious diseases) at Westmead Hospital’s Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) in 1986 and became a medical microbiologist in 1997. In 2009, Professor Dwyer was appointed Director and Senior Medical Virologist for ICPMR’s Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services.
Prof Ivan FN Hung – Assistant Dean, Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong
Professor Ivan HUNG is currently Professor and Assistant Dean, Department of Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong and Honorary Consultant in Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong SAR. He is a dual specialist in Infectious Disease and Gastroenterology and Hepatology. After obtaining his MRCP, he underwent subspecialty training in infectious diseases, followed by gastroenterology and hepatology. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Division of Geographical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, USA
Chair Clinical Prof David Smith – APACI Director
Clinical Professor David Smith is a Medical Virologist at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Director of the PathWest QE2 Network. He is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Western Australia, and Director of the National Influenza Centre at PathWest. He chairs the Public Health Laboratory Network and is a Director of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza. He has a particular interest in influenza and other respiratory viruses, mosquito-borne viruses and emerging infections.
Areas covered
Evidence for antiviral role in a pandemic: in hospitalized patients, in reducing spread, as a prophylaxis
What are the currently available antiviral options?
Balancing preparedness for rich and poor countries
Engaging with industry: Supply and demand in a pandemic, mechanisms to avoid product expiry
Topic 2: Pandemic Planning
24 November 2020
Speakers
Prof Paul Tambyah
Paul Anantharajah Tambyah is currently clinical lead at the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Program, and Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore and Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at the National University Hospital. After completing medical school at NUS, and national service in the SAF Medical Corps, he did postgraduate work in Infectious Diseases at the University of Wisconsin with Dr Dennis Maki. Since returning to Singapore, he has served on a number of national and international committees including the Board of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology in America, as Assistant Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and past President of the Society of Infectious Diseases (Singapore). He is currently President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection. His main research interests are in device associated infections and emerging infectious diseases.
Dr Lance Jennings
Lance Jennings is an APACI Director and formerly Clinical Virologist to the Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, New Zealand. He has been Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) National Measles Laboratory, Clinical Associate Professor in the Pathology Department, University of Otago, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, London, and a Founding Fellow of the Science Faculty, Royal Australasian College of Pathologists. He has served on several Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture Advisory Committees, and on the editorial board of the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Disease (ISIRV) journal Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses. Dr Jennings has also been a member of WHO/Western Pacific Region Office (WPRO) Avian Influenza Outbreak Response (2004) and Expert Influenza (2005) teams in Asia.
Chair Clinical Prof David Smith – APACI Director
Clinical Professor David Smith is a Medical Virologist at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Director of the PathWest QE2 Network. He is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Western Australia, and Director of the National Influenza Centre at PathWest. He chairs the Public Health Laboratory Network and is a Director of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza. He has a particular interest in influenza and other respiratory viruses, mosquito-borne viruses and emerging infections.
Areas covered
Update on current status of the COVID-19 pandemic
Could we have been better prepared this time?
Management of the COVID-19 pandemic: in the absence of an antiviral intervention, effectiveness of lock-down, economic impact
What are the current risks?
What might future pandemics might look like?
Topic 3: Clinical Use of Antivirals
8 December 2020
Speakers
Dr Emi Takashita – Senior Research Scientist, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan
Emi Takashita is a Technical Official at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan and a Senior Research Scientist at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Japan. She specialized in influenza viruses as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine, Japan and then became an Assistant Professor of the Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine.
Dr Takashita joined the Influenza Virus Research Center at the NIID, one of the WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza, in 2009, and has been leading the Antiviral Resistance Surveillance Team. Her team monitors the susceptibility of influenza viruses to NA inhibitors, M2 inhibitors and RNA polymerase inhibitors.
Dr Takashita is a member of the WHO GISRS Expert Working Group for Surveillance of Antiviral Susceptibility (WHO-AVWG) and an external expert of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), which is the Japanese regulatory agency.
Prof Steve Webb – Deputy Chair, Australian Clinical Trials Alliance
Steve Webb is a founding Director and Deputy Chair of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance, a foundation Fellow and a member of Council of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a member of the NHMRC Health Translation Advisory Committee, and co-Chair of the federal Government’s Clinical Trials Collaborative Forum. He is also a Senior Staff Specialist in Intensive Care Medicine at Royal Perth Hospital, Director of Clinical Trials at St John of God Hospital Subiaco, and a Professor of Critical Care Research in School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is a former chair of the ANZICS Clinical Trials Group and he chaired the UWA Human Research Ethics Committee from 2007 until 2016. He is a recipient of a Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Western Australia
Chair Clinical Prof David Smith – APACI Director
Clinical Professor David Smith is a Medical Virologist at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Director of the PathWest QE2 Network. He is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Western Australia, and Director of the National Influenza Centre at PathWest. He chairs the Public Health Laboratory Network and is a Director of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza. He has a particular interest in influenza and other respiratory viruses, mosquito-borne viruses and emerging infections.
Areas covered
Diagnostics: when to use them and the role they play, rapid case ID and isolation/treatment, fast/low sensitivity versus slow/high sensitivity
Early treatment to reduce spread during a pandemic
Prophylaxis: in influenza, how it translates into the COVID pandemic
Antiviral resistance: frequency of resistance, impact on patient, risk of transmission
Antiviral dosing decisions: role for combination treatments in hospitalized patients, prognostic biomarkers, antiviral therapy for emerging flu viruses H7 and H5, collaboration during the emergence a novel virus for clinical and pre-clinical studies informing for the next influenza pandemic, use in aged care facilities, data collection in ICU and emergency
Topic 4: Stockpiling
2 February 2021
Speakers
Associate Professor Vernon Lee – adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at the National University of Singapore
Associate Professor Vernon Lee is a preventive medicine physician, Deputy Director for Communicable Diseases in the Singapore Ministry of Health, Head of the Singapore Armed Forces Biodefence Centre, and adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at the National University of Singapore. He was formerly Advisor to the Assistant Director General for Health, Security and Environment at the WHO headquarters; and Medical Epidemiologist in the WHO Office in Indonesia. He has been involved in many global health security collaborations, and has developed pandemic preparedness plans and risk assessment and management programs at the global and national levels. He has also performed research on the effectiveness of various interventions against infectious diseases. He graduated from medical school at the National University of Singapore, holds a PhD in epidemiology from the Australian National University, and the MPH and MBA degrees from the Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Chair Clinical Prof David Smith – APACI Director
Clinical Professor David Smith is a Medical Virologist at PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Director of the PathWest QE2 Network. He is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Western Australia, and Director of the National Influenza Centre at PathWest. He chairs the Public Health Laboratory Network and is a Director of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza. He has a particular interest in influenza and other respiratory viruses, mosquito-borne viruses and emerging infections.
Areas covered
Managing stockpiles: antivirals, PPE
Other consumables and diagnostic equipment
Supply chain challenges – capacity to respond: how to ensure you get what you want when you need it, effective mobilization of antiviral stockpiles, seasonal and pandemic use
Who to treat – modeling studies on the efficient use of antiviral stockpiles