Transferência tecnológica da vacina de influenza no acordo entre o Instituto Butantan e a Sanofis/Pasteur

Abstract

This article aims, in the centenary of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic that occurred in 1918, to analyze the recent process of influenza vaccine production through the transfer in the agreement between the Butantan Institute and Sanofis/Pasteur. The methodology used in the research was that of a “case study” (YIN, 1994), answering the questions of "why" and "how" this transfer occurred. The national and international context was analyzed in the referred period, using a literature review on the subject. A documental analysis and semi-structured interview with key actors are also carried out. The questions related to the "why" of the transfer were seen in order to identify the aspects involved in the decision making, the relevance and the opportunity for the creation of technological knowledge by the public sector in the production of influenza vaccine. The questions related to the "how", that is, the transfer process itself, aimed to identify and analyze: the formal instruments (technology transfer contract), the stages of implementation and transfer and intervening factors, relations between partner (Sanofi) an and Institute; institutional barriers; economic impacts and, finally, discuss the results and possibilities of innovation created by this process. The results achieved by the transfer process bring to light a series of positive situations and possibilities for gains with local production and its innovative potential, which in the social area is given by the cost-benefit from the point of view of the economy due to the impact on hospitalizations and medication needed for the treatment of people contaminated by influenza.