How QSuper invests in health and the fight against COVID-19
18 March 2021
5
min read
QSuper invests members’ money in a number of different ways, including in healthcare, with those investments potentially contributing to the fight against COVID-19.
The speedy response to developing vaccines to combat the coronavirus has been facilitated by a number of factors, including years of previous research, advances in manufacturing platforms, accelerated testing regimes and approvals, and considerable funding aimed specifically at producing and distributing vaccines amid the pandemic.1
QSuper invests members’ money in healthcare and advancing the response to the coronavirus health emergency through shares in both listed companies and private companies, known as private equity.
Find out how investments in these assets mean your money might be contributing to the world-wide response to the pandemic.
Shareholdings in healthcare
QSuper invests in shares in listed companies, that is companies that trade on stock markets.
CSL, founded in 1916 as Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, is a Melbourne-based global biotech company that develops and delivers innovative biotherapies and influenza vaccines to save lives and help people with life-threatening medical conditions live full lives.
CSL focuses on rare and serious diseases and influenza vaccines. The company is working with academia, industry and governments around the world to combat COVID-19, including joining the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance to develop a potential plasma-derived therapy for treating COVID-19.2
The alliance aims to develop a convalescent plasma for the treatment of hospitalised adults at risk of serious complications of COVID-19.
During 2020, CSL worked with the University of Queensland in the early stages of its UQ-CSL v451 COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Although the vaccine passed a Phase 1 clinical trial, it did not progress to Phase 2/3 clinical trials.
Separately, in November 2020, CSL revealed it would commence manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, at its facility in Broadmeadows, Melbourne, and released to the public in March 2021.
CSL is the largest and second-largest holding by value, respectively, in QSuper’s Aggressive and Australian Shares investment options.
Investing in healthcare through private assets
Along with listed equities like CSL, QSuper invests in private companies known as private equity.
Simply put, these firms have not listed on any stock exchanges and may be owned by a combination of individuals and other companies, including institutional investors like QSuper.
Among QSuper’s private equity holdings in healthcare are two firms involved in the research, testing, and treatment of COVID-19.
PCI Pharma Services
PCI Pharma Services is an American healthcare company specialising in drug development and manufacturing, clinical trial services, and commercial packaging technology, including the ultra-cold chain storage required for some COVID-19 vaccines.
PCI is a market leader in the highly specialised field of cold storage operations, which have been in heavy demand to store and distribute new COVID-19 vaccines.
An example of the company’s expertise allowing it to play a significant role in saving lives during the pandemic included the delivery of emergency medication to patients in Milan, Italy as commercial flights started being shut down in March 2020.3
PCI secured permits and arranged for courier jets, drivers and trains to deliver the drugs to Milan for emergency patients going into septic shock and suffering perilously low blood pressure.
"That day when the drug arrived, six people were saved," said PCI’s chief executive, Salim Haffar.
Cerba HealthCare
Another of QSuper’s important healthcare sector investments is Paris-based Cerba HealthCare.
Cerba is an international network of medical biology laboratories that offers complete biological diagnostic solutions ranging from collection centres to specialty laboratories.
Cerba has made efforts to improve participation rates in clinical trials during the pandemic by helping its clients reach patients outside the normal hospital environment.
The company has also initiated more than 20 projects and studies in COVID-19 diagnostics, prevention and treatments, including vaccine trials.
One of these was a rapid virology study to evaluate a previously approved drug as a post-exposure treatment for COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses.4
The speedy response required complete central laboratory support, custom test kits to be built and distributed to various North American locations, and a full database set up.
A typical timeline for a study would be eight weeks. Cerba managed the turnaround in 10 days.
The successful 10-day test kit and database build enabled the rapid initiation of the phase three trial for the therapy that included 1,400 patients being enrolled across 30 sites.
Review your QSuper investment options, including where your money may be invested and how to choose which option is right for you.
Deciding what is best for you will depend on your personal circumstances and you may want to seek personal financial advice to get the most from your superannuation. You can find out more about financial advice options at qsuper.qld.gov.au/advice
The opinions expressed and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the QSuper Board. No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of any of the information supplied and you should seek advice for your
circumstances.
1. Ball, P, 18 December 2020, The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines — and what it means for other diseases, Nature, at nature.com
2. Media Release, 10 December 2020, CSL’s Global Role in Battling COVID-19, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories at csl.com
3. Media Release, 16 December 2020, Critical to Vaccines, Cold Storage Is Wall Street’s Shiny New Thing, PCI Services at pciservices.com
4. Blog, 3 September 2020, How We Started an Infectious Diseases Trial in Ten Days, Cerba Healthcare, Cerba Research at cerbaresearch.com