Biorbyt创始人接受Bioscience Today采访，阐述疫情下的科学、政治和经济影响

英国biorbyt  2021年08月27日  10:12  湖北

      Biorbyt Ltd 的CEO兼创始人Tillmann Ziegert博士近日接受了Bioscience Today的采访，就公司如何度过COVID-19大流行的最初风暴，如何敏捷应对这种动荡时期出现的机遇和挑战，以及随后的经济和政治格局进行了介绍。

 

      Bioscience Today（《今日生物科学》），前身为Bioscience Journal（《生物科学杂志》），是一本聚焦英国生命科学临床研究和医学创新的当代出版物。Bioscience Today面向整个生物科学、医疗、制药和保健市场的决策者，涵盖了相关行业的关键方面，讲述影响行业的故事，并揭示英国生物科学行业增长背后的主要参与者。

 

      以下是发布在Bioscience Today网站上的采访报道和译文。

 

 

The scientific, political and economic implications of COVID-19: an insider’s perspective

COVID-19的科学、政治和经济影响：内部人士的观点

 

     It is widely assumed that the life science industry performed well off the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the demand for assays and molecular tools driving unprecedented sales to support global research. This may be true in the short term, but a broader vision must be applied to business models to ensure that appropriate measures are in place for future success.

       人们普遍认为，生命科学行业在COVID-19大流行的背景下表现良好，对化验和分子工具的需求推动了前所未有的销售，以支持全球研究。这在短期内可能是正确的，但（我们）必须将更广阔的视野应用于商业模式，以确保为未来的成功制定适当的策略。

 

     In this issue of BioScience Today, we talk to Dr Tillmann Ziegert, Managing Director at Biorbyt Ltd, about how the company weathered the initial storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of business agility to grasp the opportunities that arise during such turbulent times, and the subsequent economic and political landscapes.

      在本期BioScience Today中，我们采访了Biorbyt Ltd董事总经理Tillmann Ziegert博士，（讲述）关于公司如何度过了 COVID-19 大流行的最初风暴，业务敏捷性对于把握在这种动荡时期出现的机会的重要性，以及随后的经济和政治格局。

 

Remaining agile

保持敏捷

 

    The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges for business operations, especially for companies like Biorbyt that supply essential consumables and reagents – including antibodies, proteins and molecular tools – to life sciences labs around the world. Throw in the mix the Brexit debacle and, if you weren’t prepared or ready to rapidly evolve, then the train was leaving the station without you.

       COVID-19大流行给业务运营带来了许多挑战，特别是对于像Biorbyt这样的公司，它们向世界各地的生命科学实验室提供基本的耗材和试剂（包括抗体、蛋白质和分子工具）。再加上英国脱欧的混乱局面，如果你没有准备或刚准备好快速发展，那么（机遇的）“火车”就会在你没有上车之前就驶离了车站。

 

     Tillmann explained: “We’re a global company based in Cambridge, UK, with offices in Wuhan, China, and St. Louis, USA. Our logistics hub and one of our labs are located in Wuhan, so obviously, we had to re-jig our transportation routes fairly quickly when the pandemic hit. However, as almost all the labs we supply were closed during the first global lockdown, logistics wasn’t really an issue; people literally couldn’t do their scientific research. This obviously resulted in a huge drop in business, and forced us to carefully plan our next move. People were under the illusion that it was a great opportunity for reagent suppliers, but initially, when all the labs were closed, it was the opposite, and many smaller businesses suffered.”

      Tillmann说：“我们是一家总部位于英国剑桥的全球性公司，在中国武汉和美国圣路易斯设有办事处。我们的物流中心和实验室之一位于武汉，因此很明显，当疫情大流行来袭初期，我们不得不需要相当迅速地重新调整我们的运输路线。但是，由于我们提供的几乎所有实验室在第一次全球封锁期间都关闭了，因此物流并不是真正的问题，而是科研人员实际上无法进行日常科学研究。这显然导致业务大幅下降，迫使我们必须仔细计划下一步行动。人们误以为这对试剂供应商来说是一个很好的机会，但最初，当所有实验室都关闭时，情况恰恰相反，许多中小企业都遭受了损失。”

 

      “We endured those months and managed to hold on to all of our employees, which was crucial to be able to hit the ground running when labs reopened. Business is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, but the logistical environment has changed with new – unforeseen – global challenges. Overall, COVID-19 has made customs officials more suspicious of anything life sciences related, which means increased paperwork, greater uncertainty and, ultimately, delays in delivery times.”

      “我们熬过了那几个月，并设法留住了我们所有的员工，这对于在实验室重新开放时能够快速正常运转至关重要。我们的业务很快就几乎恢复到了疫情大流行前的水平，但物流环境发生了新的不可预见的全球挑战。总体而言，COVID-19大流行使海关官员对任何与生命科学相关的进出口更加高度关注，这意味着文书工作增加、不确定性增加，最终导致交货时间延迟。”

 

     “Brexit has obviously not helped the situation, and made shipping into Europe a real challenge, resulting in even more paperwork, changes to certification requirements, and additional tariffs – causing even longer delays. One solution we explored was to invest in a European hub, like we have in the USA and China. But, although we may not entirely agree with what has happened, we are committed to Britain. We have built our lives and careers here, and have many employees we care about and have a certain responsibility for. We therefore didn’t want to do anything radical, and will continue working with our strong partnership network inside the EU.”

      “这种情况下英国脱欧（对我们全球性质的企业）显然没有任何帮助，反而使产品运往欧洲成为一个真正的挑战，导致更多的文书工作、认证要求的变化和额外的关税，从而导致更长的货期延误。我们计划探索的一种解决方案是投资建立新的欧洲枢纽，就像我们在美国和中国（设立办事处）那样。但是，尽管我们可能不完全同意脱欧所发生的事情，但我们仍是致力于英国。我们在这里建立了自己的生活和事业，拥有许多我们关心并负有责任的员工。因此，我们不想做任何激进的事情，并将继续与我们在欧盟内部有强大关系网络的伙伴合作。”

 

     “For small companies, it’s a balancing act, and these issues need to be integrated into long-term business planning. It’s not going to get easier, which means you need the resources in IT, logistics and operations to deal with the problems in a more efficient way. And this is where business agility truly comes into play. One of the major initiatives we have implemented during this time is in our stock management. Our portfolio includes over 500,000 research reagents, which obviously can’t all be stocked, but we are continuously analysing our top sellers and increasing their baseline stock levels. This strategy adds to our overheads and risk, but in a time where the customer expectation is at ‘Amazon’ levels – ‘I ordered it yesterday, why hasn’t it arrived today?’ – we will be well positioned to meet their needs.”

      “对于小公司来说，这是一种需要去平衡的行为，需要将这些问题纳入长期业务规划。它不会变得更容易，这意味着你需要IT、物流和运营方面的资源整合以更有效的方式处理问题，而这正是业务敏捷性真正发挥作用的地方。我们在此期间实施的主要举措之一是我们的库存管理。我们的产品组合包括超过50万种研究试剂，显然不可能全部都有库存，但我们会不断分析我们的畅销产品并提高他们的基准库存水平。这一策略增加了我们的管理费用和风险，但在客户期望处于‘亚马逊’水平的时代——‘我昨天订购了它，为什么今天没有到货？’——我们将很好地满足他们的需求。”

 

Opportunities amid a crisis

危机中的机遇

 

     In 2021, Biorbyt celebrated its 10th year as a trusted member of the scientific community. The company could have never forecast the recent events but, because of the entrepreneurial blood running through its veins, it was able to sniff out the opportunities and pave a clear path for the future ahead. Tillmann continued: “There have been many business positives to arise from these otherwise difficult times. We have expanded our portfolio to include various SARS-CoV-2 related reagents – including spike proteins, variant proteins, antibodies and ELISA kits – to support researchers working on COVID-19 vaccines. We are also looking to develop a more accurate and robust research diagnostic tool for COVID-19. Currently, most tests are based on a lateral flow assay, where you have one antibody with a colourimetric output. This method is acceptable, but prone to returning false-negative results, meaning it needs a follow-up PCR test. A more accurate technique is no doubt required, so we are engaging in some early R&D into building a more robust kit, with the goal of making it ‘future proof’.”

      2021年，正值Biorbyt庆祝其成为科学界值得信赖成员的第10周年。该公司永远无法预测最近的事件，但由于其血管中流淌着创业的血液，它能够嗅到机会并为未来铺平道路。Tillmann继续说道：“这些困难时期同样也产生了许多积极的业务。我们扩大了我们的产品组合，包括各种SARS-CoV-2相关试剂（刺突蛋白、变异体蛋白、抗体和ELISA试剂盒）以支持研究COVID-19疫苗的科研人员。我们还希望为COVID-19开发更准确、更强大的研究诊断工具。目前，大多数测试都是基于横向流动试验，是有一种色度输出的抗体。这种方法是可以接受的，但容易出现假阴性结果，这意味着需要后续的PCR检测。毫无疑问，我们需要一种更精确的技术，因此我们正在进行一些早期的研发，以建立一个更强大的工具包，目标是使其成为‘未来的验证’。”

 

     “We are also collaborating with a fellow British company to develop an assay that includes the trimeric spike protein for the alpha variant. This company has managed to successfully express the complete viral protein, which is quite a scientific achievement, because of its immense size. This could be a great product for the current market, and early results show good specificity and sensitivity. But, as we have learned, SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly evolving, so there are a lot of additional reagents that customers will need, which is why we are forming additional partnerships to develop more of these proteins and continue our support of research worldwide.”

      “我们还与一家英国公司合作开发一种检测方法，其中包括alpha变体的三聚体刺突蛋白。这家公司成功表达了完整的病毒蛋白，这是一项相当具备科学性的成就，因为这个蛋白分子非常巨大。这对于当前市场来说可能是一个很好的产品，而且早期结果也显示出良好的特异性和敏感性。但是，正如我们了解到的，SARS-CoV-2正在迅速发展，因此客户需要很多额外的试剂，这就是为什么我们正在建立更多的合作伙伴关系以开发更多这些蛋白质并继续支持全球的研究。”

 

The wider implications

更广泛的影响

 

     “Scientific and technological advancements have been pivotal to vaccine development and tracking SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic, improving the profile of science to not only the general population, but also to governments and political parties. Scientific R&D has proven, once again, it is a crucial part of our society. This has already resulted in more funding and support for companies looking to innovate technologies to improve research so that, next time, we will have a more rapid response to improve health outcomes, and to minimise the economic and social fallout.”

      “在新冠大流行期间，科学和技术进步对于疫苗开发和追踪SARS-CoV-2至关重要，不仅提高了普通民众，而且也提高了政府和政党对科学的了解。科学研发再次证明，它是我们社会的重要组成部分。这已经为寻求创新技术以改进研究的企业提供了更多资金和支持，以便下次我们能够更快地做出反应以改善健康状况，并将经济和社会影响降至最低。”

 

     “COVID-19 united the scientific community with a common cause, rallying resources and personnel to propel research in this field years in advance. The virus had a spotlight, and a lot of superb technology has been developed as a result. It doesn’t necessarily mean you get a perfect diagnostic kit or a cure, but gradual – sometimes giant – improvements. mRNA vaccines are a prime example. We have never had anything like this before, but we can now sequence a virus, copy the relevant genetic material, and stimulate an immune response by mimicking certain characteristics. Previously, this would have taken years to get through clinical trials, because the focus and, therefore, the funding just wouldn’t have been there. But now we have a new tool in our armamentarium, with efficacy and safety data available for future vaccines or treatments.”

      “COVID-19将科学界团结在一个共同的事业中，募集资源和人员提前数年推动该领域的研究。病毒引起了人们的关注，因此开发了许多高超的技术。这不一定意味着你能得到完美的诊断工具或治疗，而是渐进的，有时是巨大的改善。mRNA疫苗就是一个典型的例子。我们以前从未遇到过这样的事情，但我们现在可以对病毒进行测序，复制相关的遗传物质，并通过模仿某些特征来刺激免疫反应。以前，这需要数年时间才能通过临床试验，因为研究重点和资金可能不在于此。但是现在我们的医疗设备库中有一个新工具，可以为未来的疫苗或治疗提供有效性和安全性数据。”

 

     “This fast-tracked emergency response was accepted – and necessary – because of the acute health, social and economic impacts that the virus was having on all of us. Looking further afield, where does the next priority lay? One could easily argue cancer research: surely cancer could be cured if we focus our funding and attention there? But the nature of that challenge is a different beast; cancer isn’t an infectious disease caused by a single pathogen. The plurality of the disease, and its genetic and environmental links – combined with the many different stages – make it a complicated challenge. And who’s to say that cancer is the priority? Do absolute poverty and preventable diseases kill and impact more people in developing nations? Or should we focus more on environmental issues or depression? These questions run deep into the ethical and political spectrum, which is why – in a democratic society – funding is divided, and not normally bundled into one area.”

      “由于该病毒对我们所有人造成了严重的健康、社会和经济影响，因此这种快速跟踪的应急响应可以被接受并且是必要的。放眼未来，下一个优先目标是什么？人们很容易认为是癌症研究：如果我们将资金和注意力集中在癌症研究上，癌症肯定可以治愈吗？但这种挑战的性质是完全不同的，癌症不是由单一病原体引起的传染病。这种疾病的多样性以及其遗传和环境联系，加上癌症许多不同的阶段使其成为一项复杂的挑战。谁能说癌症是最重要的呢？发展中国家的绝对贫困和可预防的疾病是否造成更多人死亡和影响？还是我们应该更多地关注环境问题或抑郁症？这些问题深入到伦理和政治领域，这就是为什么在一个民主社会资金是分配开的，而不是通常捆绑在一个领域里。”

 

Biorbyt and beyond

Biorbyt及以后

 

Tillmann Ziegert (CEO，右) & Qun Yang (COO，左)

 

     “Qun Yang, Biorbyt’s COO, and I founded this company to provide the best possible service to the scientific community, and with the landscape continually changing, the company must be flexible to fulfil its mission. We are adjusting to the new global geopolitical realities established by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, and acknowledged that this is the new norm. The ‘seasonal’ opportunities born out of recent times will fade, which is why we are exploring other innovative ventures to ensure we continue supporting ground-breaking scientific research well into the future,” Tillmann concluded.

      Tillmann总结说到：“Biorbyt的首席运营官杨群和我创立这家公司是致力于为科学界提供最好的服务，随着形势的不断变化，公司必须灵活地履行其使命。我们正在适应由COVID-19大流行和英国脱欧确立的新的全球地缘政治现实，并承认这是新的规范。近期产生的‘季节性’机会将会消退，这就是为什么我们也正在探索其他创新项目，以确保我们在未来继续支持突破性的科学研究。”