5 ms·

AstraZeneca has completely botched this. There’s no way you get into this much trouble without poor management.

by sprafa 6y ago

adamsvystun 6y ago
What did they botch? Maybe I am uninformed on this, but from my perspective they did everything right - to the best of their abilities.
- meepmorp 6y ago
  HN is teeming with subject matter experts of all kinds, particularly rapid adenovirus-based vaccine development. Best not to question it.
  - listenallyall 6y ago
    and large container ship rescue specialists too.
    - whateveracct 6y ago
      It's crazy that you get to hear theoretical physicists casually mention their personal theories too. HN is quite the zoo!
      - postalrat 6y ago
        Saving the world is a thankless task.
        meepmorp 6y ago
        You're welcome, bro.
- refurb 6y ago
  They ran a clinical trial where they accidentally gave a number of patients half a dose. Apparently this was due to lack of validation of an assay by Oxford. I think the problem is that these "small" issues pop up which just further erodes confidence in the vaccine.
  - Wildgoose 6y ago
    And yet that accident enabled them to discover that an initial "half" dose eas actually more successful than an initial "full" dose. All of this has been very well scrutinised and documented, far more so than any other vaccine supplier.
    - refurb 6y ago
      It was serendipitous that it happened, but my god, that's not supposed to happen in clinical trials run by companies like AZ.
      - jadavies 6y ago
        I suggest that you don't read up on how penicillin was discovered then!
- andreskytt 6y ago
  Leaving aside the properties of the vaccine, not keeping promises is a really bad look. Committing to deliver x amount and then delivering .8x without much of an explanation is a sign of bad comms at the very least. And that has not happened once. If you look at how many times AZ has promised to start keeping to the schedule and get their capacity up, the list gets pretty long. It does not take a management genius to predict, that vaccine deliveries in EU are going to be observed using a microscope and that the moment you flinch, they’ll bite. And AZ flinched. We’ve all been there. Engineers tell the leadership x is possible, customer demands 2x, leadership bullies engineers into agreeing to deliver on the impossible and in the end it all goes to hell. And that’s a clear leadership failure.
ggm 6y ago
Accepting that they own much of it, I think they don't own all of it. Some of the problem vests completely outside their control. At root? yes, were I a direct shareholder/invester I'd be seeking management change at the top. So I probably agree with your implied sentiment. But it would be stupid to believe all of the problem vests wither with AZ or with how they reacted to external forces. Some of the blame lies in those (human mediated, political) external forces.

AstraZeneca has completely botched this. There’s no way you get into this much trouble without poor management.

by sprafa 6y ago

AstraZeneca has completely botched this. There’s no way you get into this much trouble without poor management.

What did they botch? Maybe I am uninformed on this, but from my perspective they did everything right - to the best of their abilities.

meepmorp 6y ago
HN is teeming with subject matter experts of all kinds, particularly rapid adenovirus-based vaccine development. Best not to question it.
- listenallyall 6y ago
  and large container ship rescue specialists too.
  - whateveracct 6y ago
    It's crazy that you get to hear theoretical physicists casually mention their personal theories too. HN is quite the zoo!
    - postalrat 6y ago
      Saving the world is a thankless task.
      - meepmorp 6y ago
        You're welcome, bro.
refurb 6y ago
They ran a clinical trial where they accidentally gave a number of patients half a dose. Apparently this was due to lack of validation of an assay by Oxford. I think the problem is that these "small" issues pop up which just further erodes confidence in the vaccine.
- Wildgoose 6y ago
  And yet that accident enabled them to discover that an initial "half" dose eas actually more successful than an initial "full" dose. All of this has been very well scrutinised and documented, far more so than any other vaccine supplier.
  - refurb 6y ago
    It was serendipitous that it happened, but my god, that's not supposed to happen in clinical trials run by companies like AZ.
    - jadavies 6y ago
      I suggest that you don't read up on how penicillin was discovered then!
andreskytt 6y ago
Leaving aside the properties of the vaccine, not keeping promises is a really bad look. Committing to deliver x amount and then delivering .8x without much of an explanation is a sign of bad comms at the very least. And that has not happened once. If you look at how many times AZ has promised to start keeping to the schedule and get their capacity up, the list gets pretty long. It does not take a management genius to predict, that vaccine deliveries in EU are going to be observed using a microscope and that the moment you flinch, they’ll bite. And AZ flinched. We’ve all been there. Engineers tell the leadership x is possible, customer demands 2x, leadership bullies engineers into agreeing to deliver on the impossible and in the end it all goes to hell. And that’s a clear leadership failure.

ggm 6y ago

Accepting that they own much of it, I think they don't own all of it. Some of the problem vests completely outside their control. At root? yes, were I a direct shareholder/invester I'd be seeking management change at the top. So I probably agree with your implied sentiment. But it would be stupid to believe all of the problem vests wither with AZ or with how they reacted to external forces. Some of the blame lies in those (human mediated, political) external forces.