Biopharma EH&S podcast episode #27

Hello everybody and welcome back to another Episode of the BioPharma EH&S Podcast, my name is Dean Calhoun of Affygility Solutions and this is the podcast dedicated to discussing critical environmental, health and safety issues facing the biopharma industry, helping you take your environmental, health and safety programs to the next level.

Well, it’s Wednesday, January 29th, 2020, and I’m excited to be back today recording today. We have full show for today and a lot of great things to talk about, so let’s go ahead and get started.

As always I like to mention what are we going to discuss in today’s podcast. In today’s podcast, we’re going to talk about the following topics.

First, I’ll briefly cover what we talked about last time in episode number 26 and then we will cover our main topic for today – which is an interview with Mark Cunningham-Hill where we will discuss the coronavirus and precautions that business travelers should take and other precautions in general when traveling on business internationally. Then finally, after the interview, we will discuss events and happenings of interest to the EH&S professional’s in the biopharma industry.

In our last episode, episode 26, we had an interview with Dave Eherts. Dave is the Vice President of Global EH&S for Allergan, and back in October, 2019 Dave was honored by the National Association for Environmental Management with NAEM’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It was a great interview and lasted about 25 minutes, so if that is something that interests you I suggest you go back to episode 26 and listen to the whole interview.

Alright, so without further delay, let’s get started with our main interview. With me on the line is Dr. Mark Cunningham-Hill, President of Worldwide Health Consulting, LLC. Mark has 30 years of global experience leading large multinational’s responses to pandemics such as avian flu, SARS, MERS and Zika.

 The last time we had Mark on the podcast was back in May of 2017, so I will let Mark add some additional details.

Dean

• We have heard a lot on the news recently about this new coronavirus from Wuhan, China. From what you know, what is the latest situation?

Mark:

• I will run through key facts # cases, deaths, countries – p2p spread etc
• Key actions taken by China, other countries and businesses so far
• Warning about false stories on social media … it IS NOT a deliberate plot by the pharmaceutical companies to sell more vaccines!

 Dean:

• I gather MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) , SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and this new virus are all coronaviruses – how similar are they?

Mark:

• I will cover similarities, differences and inferences we can make from the previous SARS and MERS
• Source of disease  - bats, camels and wild food markets…

Dean:

• I have seen reference to the R0 number for this new virus what does it mean

Mark

• The R naught is the basic reproduction number ……….. give explanation and range for SARS and measles

Dean:

• How is the virus spread and how can you protect yourself from getting the disease?

Mark:

• …………witchcraft 😊
• ……… ? a symptomless transmission
• Talk through prevention

Dean:

• Are there any vaccines or antivirals that work?

Mark

• Talk about no vaccines but with genetic code (for test) and virus isolated work starting on developing a vaccine … but ………………

Dean:

• Coronavirus and precautions business travelers should take?

Mark:

• Talk about following company CDC travel guidance
• Hand washing
• Avoiding sick people etc….
• …………
• Letting people know where you are … Dean you are off to Nepal in March and you came across a great resource – do you want to tell the listeners about this resource

Dean:

• STEP Program
• Mark what other resources are out there?

Mark

• CDC and other travel websites
• Corporate travel companies such as ISOS and Travax
• Dr Google …. With caveats!

Dean:

• What do you think will happen over the next few weeks or months

Mark

• I will give a balanced answer and refrain from a doomsday answer 😊

 Dean

 How about more in general, what precautions and preparations should business travelers be taking when traveling outside the country? (health insurance, vaccinations, registering with the STEP program, etc.)

 Alright, so that does it for the interview, let’s now move onto events and happenings that are of interest to EH&S professionals in the biopharma industry.

First, on February 19-21st in Prague, Czech Republic there’s the 2nd Annual Highly Potent APIs Summit. Affygility Solutions is a sponsor at this event and also will be presenting. If you happen to be attending, please stop me and say hello.

Next, on March 15-18th, there is the Society of Toxicology Annual meeting in Anaheim, California. Dr. James Damewood, Sr. Director of Occupational Toxicology for Affygility Solutions will be attending this event.

And, finally, on May 5th through 7th, CPhI North America will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Numerous employees of Affygility Solutions will be attending this event.

O.k.  That does it for this week’s show.  Remember to submit your questions to our podcast email at podcast at Affygility.com.  You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/Affygility, on Facebook by searching for Affygility Solutions and giving us a “Like”, and finally on LinkedIn by searching for Affygility Solutions.

That does it for this week’s show.  We look forward to having you listen in next time.

Have a great rest of the day

Links

Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Tracker John Hopkins University

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program - STEP. U.S. Department of State

 

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