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You know exactly when you realized it could be a pandemic. In early March, Mikael Dolsten had been invited to the White House, along with representatives from authorities and other companies.
The day before the meeting with the president, he prepared himself and then saw that the infection had reached countries on three continents: China, Italy, the United States.
– I called our vaccine manager and told him that instead of discussing whether we go from an epidemic to a pandemic, we should stop being conservative and instead invest everything now.
At least they could learn something.
Photo: Mattias Lundblad
Mikael Dolsten was born in Halmstad, attended medical school in Lund and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years, for a long time at a high level.
Now the atmosphere of power contributed Washington to the feeling of seriousness. He asked his co-worker to immediately contact Biontech, a German company that Pfizer had previously worked with, and to get back to him within an hour.
After the White House meeting, he went home to Scarsdale, a suburb about three-quarters of Manhattan. That same night, he anchored his thoughts with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla: Instead of applying powder in an antiviral treatment, Pfizer should invest in a vaccine with new mRNA technology.
From Bourla, Mikael Dolsten heard something he had never heard from a director: “don’t let money stop you.”
At the same time that the highest gear was placed, Dolsten’s lay wife in a New York hospital, seriously ill with covid-19.
The best results come when people from different backgrounds and niches collaborate, says Mikael Dolsten, who has often worked on such projects.
Photo: Mattias Lundblad
A few months later, on the 8th In November, he and three other members of the management team sat in a conference room waiting for a report on the efficacy of the new vaccine. He flew out of the chair when the figure came in: 90 percent. OMG it’s amazing.
– It was as if the chest exploded with joy. Both for humanity, I myself had seen the suffering up close, as for us who work day and night.
The efficiency would prove to be even higher, up to 95 percent. The vaccine was approved for emergency use in the UK and Canada, followed by the US and the EU, on Monday. This year 50 million doses are produced, at least 1.3 billion next year.
Because mRNA technology is completely synthetic and consists of a selected gene sequence, not a live virus, it can be fine-tuned if the virus mutates.
– It can be done in a few weeks, maybe a month. If it turns out that, for example, the contagious strain it has received in the UK is perceived by the body as a new virus, it can perfect the vaccine in no time, says Mikael Dolsten.
With traditional technology, such a change would take many months or years.
Pfizer’s vaccine should be stored in ultra-cold freezers at -70 degrees and, while Mikael Dolsten believes that most countries can handle distribution, they are working on an alternative. Vaccines in lyophilized powder form may be available by the end of 2021 and would be suitable, for example, in parts of Africa, where ultra-cold freezers are lacking outside of major cities.
The scope of the crisis led everyone to do intensive work, in which Pfizer and Biontech were in constant contact with each other, with other companies and with the licensing authorities. Instead of taking one step at a time, they worked on all the tracks in parallel to speed up the entire process.
What can you contribute to future projects?
– A lot, I think. It is possible to develop vaccines and drugs against life-threatening diseases in a more collaborative way.
By not waiting for federal guarantees for its clinical trials, Pfizer admitted that it increased the risk (the company invested two billion dollars, with an uncertain outcome) but bought time.
– We saved a month. And imagine: in the United States alone, 3,500 people die every day. In 30 days it exceeds 100,000.
Mikael Dolsten has led research work at Pfizer, which developed the first approved vaccine. He was born in Halmstad, raised in Lund, and lives outside of New York. This spring, he saw how badly the city was hit by the pandemic.
Photo: Mattias Lundblad
Now it’s about getting the vaccine out and convincing people that the benefits outweigh the risks. Skepticism about vaccines is widespread, especially in the United States.
– Large participation is required to achieve herd immunity. Each country needs to provide information in a way that suits its culture. I think you should combine the raw information with the feeling that it is also a kind of duty: that you really are obliged to take it! For the sake of other people.
It is compared to driving drunkenness, when you risk not only your own life but also the lives of others. He also believes that trusted groups, from sports clubs to religious congregations, can increase confidence in the vaccine, but a certain responsibility falls on all of us.
It is important that voices from different places come together, especially in a situation where the virus constantly surprises us.
– We must be open. Don’t just listen to some experts or politicians, says Mikael Dolsten, with a clear start to Sweden.
It warns about confirmation bias or confirmation bias, where one is particularly sensitive to information that supports one’s perception.
– That applies to all of us, to me too. I have had the privilege of forming biases for Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. It has made me appreciate the wide angles. It would also be good for Sweden, both from a medical and a political point of view.
He seems to see what is starting to happen and he praises the king for entering the debate.
– Through open dialogue, it goes a long way and I am now optimistic for Sweden.
Mikael Dolsten appreciates chess and compares the game to working with the vaccine.
Photo: Mattias Lundblad
Already as a student, Mikael Dolsten came into contact with research and industry, and saw early drug development as a way to help millions of people, rather than a few hundred or perhaps thousands as a clinician does.
During his many years in the industry, he has often been involved in collaborations with universities and colleges.
How to create a creative environment where innovations can emerge?
– You must keep your eyes open for innovative research, not just things that enhance existing knowledge. You also need to ensure that you work closely with universities, as well as small start-ups, so that you create a kind of dynamic ecosystem where roles complement each other. And you need to find unique talents, those with passion and knowledge.
Businesses require a willingness to take risks and tolerance for failure. Only those who dare to fail dare to try their best.
After many years in the United States, Mikael Dolsten will return to his former university in Lund this spring as visiting professor of pharmacology. For him, it is like a way of giving back what he received.
What do you expect more from 2021?
– At the top of my wish list is, of course, that the pandemic must end and that people must not live in fear. That they should regain a relationship, they can meet. It creates bad health to be trapped. I hope we make new medical breakthroughs and learn to work in a new way: honoring all who have suffered.
His wife is fine now and has finally started working after a long convalescence. For his part, he hopes to have some free time.
– I have lived twenty-four hours a day with this disease, both privately and professionally. It was a year of mixed feelings. The horror, but also the joy. I think it is important to remember both.
