Without help from the global pandemic people may never have been convinced to inject themselves with an experimental mRNA gene therapy, a scientist bragged during a world health conference.
Speaking at the opening of the World Health Summit 2021 last November, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Division President Stefan Oelrich admitted were it not for the pandemic, the experimental injection may have seen an extremely high rejection rate.
“We are really taking that leap [to drive innovation] – us as a company, Bayer – in cell and gene therapies,” Oelrich stated.
“Ultimately, the mRNA vaccines are an example for that cell and gene therapy,” Oelrich admitted.
“I always like to say: if we had surveyed two years ago in the public – ‘would you be willing to take a gene or cell therapy and inject it into your body?’ – we probably would have had a 95% refusal rate,” he said, adding, “I think this pandemic has opened many people’s eyes to innovation.”
Oelrich continued: “Our successes over these 18 months [the duration of the COVID ‘pandemic’] should embolden us to fully focus much more closely on access, innovation and collaboration to unleash health for all, especially as we enter, on top of everything else that is happening, a new era of science – a lot of people talk about the Bio Revolution in this context.”