The Line · the University of Alberta Alumni Association

Episode 14: Antivirals, Vaccines and Hope With Dr. D. Lorne Tyrrell, ‘68 MD

July 2, 2020·22 min·2 clips

Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, who developed the first hepatitis B antiviral, explains the two big hopes against COVID-19.

Host Matt Ray interviews Dr. D. Lorne Tyrell, a physician, virologist, and founding director of the Li Ka-Shing Institute of Virology at the University of Alberta, for the Season 1 finale of The Line. Dr. Tyrell's career includes developing the first antiviral therapy for hepatitis B, saving potentially millions of lives, and he has been inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He begins by tracing the history of coronaviruses, noting that four coronaviruses have long circulated in humans causing common colds, identified as far back as 1967 by the UK's Common Cold Unit. He explains that SARS in 2002-2003 caused 47 deaths in Toronto after travelers brought it from Hong Kong, and that MERS in 2013 had a mortality rate of approximately 34%, far higher than COVID-19's estimated 3-5%. The key distinction, he argues, is that COVID-19 is significantly more transmissible than SARS or MERS, making public health containment far more difficult. Dr. Tyrell notes that virologists have long anticipated a major pandemic, comparing COVID-19 to the 1918 flu which killed approximately 50 million people worldwide. He flags that political pressure during COVID-19 has led to rushed research and weakened peer review, with some results published prematurely before adequate proof was established. Because SARS and MERS were controlled by public health measures, vaccine and antiviral development for those coronaviruses was left incomplete, leaving the world underprepared for COVID-19. Dr. Tyrell emphasizes that antivirals are as important as vaccines, pointing to HIV-AIDS and Hepatitis C as diseases with no vaccine yet now well-managed through antiviral drugs — AIDS patients can live normal life expectancy on one pill a day. He discusses remdesivir, originally developed for Ebola, and highlights University of Alberta researcher Matias Gote's work in mapping exactly how the drug inhibits COVID-19 at a mechanistic level. Dr. Tyrell argues that remdesivir's early clinical trials may have underestimated its effectiveness because it was administered too late in disease progression, and that early oral antiviral treatment could fundamentally alter outcomes. He also notes that University of Alberta researcher Dr. John Lewis and his company Entos are preparing two vaccines for human clinical trials, with promising animal testing results. On vaccine challenges, Dr. Tyrell explains that COVID-19's large genome of 30,000 base pairs and its RNA proofreading ability mean it mutates more slowly than influenza, but immunity duration remains unknown and booster strategies may be needed. He calls for sustained government funding for virology research, noting that Canada has struggled to increase CIHR budgets and that the economic disruption of pandemics dwarfs the cost of preparedness research. Dr. Tyrell argues that antivirals for acute diseases are not highly profitable for pharmaceutical companies, requiring international government pooling of funds to ensure development of pandemic-critical drugs. He warns that influenza remains a serious pandemic threat and that the world should have been better prepared for a coronavirus pandemic given the warnings from SARS and MERS. The episode closes with host Matt Ray reflecting on the growth in global COVID-19 cases from 438,000 confirmed cases and 19,000 deaths on March 25th to over 10.1 million cases and 500,000 deaths 96 days later.

As heard by us

A measured look at how antivirals and vaccines shape the fight against COVID-19.

Dr. Lorne Tyrell's interview traces COVID-19 through a broader argument for antivirals and vaccines, moving from hepatitis B progress to the search for treatments that can change the course of disease.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the COVID-19 treatment story from a scientist who changed hepatitis B care.

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