COVID-19 and Beyond: A Call for Action and Audacious Solidarity to All the Citizens and Nations, It Is Humanity’s Fight

13 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2020

See all articles by Charles Auffray

Charles Auffray

EISBM

Rudi Balling

LCSB

Niklas Blomberg

ELIXIR

MYRNA BONALDO

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

Bertrand Boutron

EISBM

Samir Brahmachari

IGIB

Christian Bréchot

Global Virus Network, University of South Florida

Alfredo Cesario

Policlinico Gemelli

Sai-Juan Chen

Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) - State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics; Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) - National Research Center for Translational Medicine

Karine Clément

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

Daria Danilenko

Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza

Alberto Di Meglio

CERN

Andrea Gelemanovic

MILS

Carole Goble

The University of Manchester - School of Computer Science

Takashi Gojobori

KAUST

Jason D Goldman

Swedish Medical Group, Providence St Joseph Health

Michel Goldman

I3h Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles

Yi-Ke Guo

Data Science Institute, Imperial College London

James Heath

Institute for Systems Biology

Leroy Hood

Institute for Systems Biology

Peter Hunter

Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland

Li Jin

Fudan University - Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development; Fudan University - State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering; Fudan University - Taizhou Institute of Health Sciences; Fudan University - Human Phenome Institute

Hiroaki Kitano

OIST

Bartha Maria Knoppers

McGill University - Centre for Genomics and Policy

Doron Lancet

Weizmann Institute of Science - Department of Molecular Genetics

Catherine Larue

IBBL

Mark Lathrop

McGill Genome Centre

Martine Laville

Lyon-Sud Hospital; Université Lyon 1 - Rhône-Alpes Research Center for Human Nutrition

Ariel B Lindner

Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), Université de Paris

Antoine Magnan

Faculté de Médecine, Université de Nantes

Andres Metspalu

Estonian Genome Centre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu

Edgar Morin

APC

Lisa F.P. Ng

Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN)

Laurent Nicod

Service de Pulmonologie, Centre Hospitalier Vaudois

Denis Noble

University of Oxford

Laurent Nottale

Paris-Meudon Observatory

Helga Nowotny

Vienna Science and Technology Fund

Theresa ochoa

Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Iruna Okeke

University of Ibadan

Tolu Oni

University of Cambridge

Peter Openshaw

Imperial College London

Mehmet Oztürk

Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Dokuz Eylul University

Susanna Palkonen

Patient Access Partnership

Janusz Paweska

National Institute of Communicable Diseases

Christophe Pison

University Grenoble Alpes - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble (CHU Grenoble Alpes)

Mihael Polymeropoulos

Vanda Pharmaceuticals

Christian Pristipino

Italian Association for Systems Medicine and Healthcare, San Filippo Neri Hospital

Ulrike Protzer

Technische Universität München (TUM) - Institute of Virology

Josep Roca

Thorax Clinical Institute, Hospital Clinic

Damjana Rozman

Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana

Marc Santolini

Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), Université de Paris

Ferran Sanz

Institut Hospital de Mar de Investigaciones Mèdiques (IMIM), Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Giovanni Scambia

Policlinico Gemelli

Eran Segal

Weizmann Institute of Science - Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

Ismail Serageldin

Library of Alexandria

Marcelo Bento Soares

University of Illinois College of Medicine

Peter Sterk

Amsterdam University Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam

Sumio Sugano

Department of Medical Genome Sciences, University of Tokyo

Julio Superti-Furga

Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Medical University of Vienna

David Supple

Asthma-UK

Jesper Tegnér

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) - Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division; Karolinska Institutet - Computational Medicine Unit

Mathias Uhlen

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) - Science for Life Laboratory (SciLife Lab)

Andrea Urbani

Policlinico Gemelli

Alfonso Valencia

Barcelona Supercomputing Center

Vincenzo Valentini

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome - Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli

Sylvie van der Werf

University of Paris-Saclay - Molecular Genetics of RNA Viruses

Manlio Vinciguerra

International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital

Olaf Wolkenhauer

University Rostock, Institute of Computer Science, Department of Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

Emiel Wouters

University Hospital Maastricht

Date Written: June 18, 2020

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 belongs to a subgroup of coronaviruses rampant in bats for centuries. It has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Most patients recover, but a minority of severe cases experience acute respiratory distress or an inflammatory storm devastating many organs that can lead to patient death. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been facilitated by the increasing intensity of air travel, urban congestion and human contact during the last half century. Until therapies and vaccines are available, tests for virus and exposure, confinement measures and physical distancing have helped curb the pandemic.

Vision: The COVID-19 pandemic calls for safeguards and remediation measures through a systemic response. A myriad of self-organizing initiatives by scientists and citizens is developing an advanced collective intelligence response to the coronavirus crisis. Their integration forms Olympiads of Solidarity and Health. Their ability to optimize our response to COVID-19 could serve as a model to trigger a global metamorphosis of our societies with far-reaching consequences for attacking fundamental challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.

Mission: For COVID-19 and these other challenges, there is no alternative but action. Meeting in Paris in 2003, we set out to "rethink research to understand life and improve health." We have now formed an international coalition of academia and industry ecosystems taking a systems medicine approach to understanding COVID-19 by thoroughly characterizing viruses, patients and populations during the pandemic, using openly shared tools. All results will be publicly available with no initial claims for intellectual property rights. This World Alliance for Health and Wellbeing will catalyze the creation of medical and health products such as diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines that become common goods accessible to all, while seeking further alliances with civil society to bridge with socio-ecological and technological approaches that characterise urban systems, for a collective response to future health emergencies.

Funding: This work was supported during its preparation phases by the State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (111 Project, B17029) to SJC, LH, CA; European Union grants CASyM (FP7-n°305033) to CA, RB, JR, DR, DS, JT, OW; eTRIKS (IMI-1-n°115446) to CA, RB, YG; PREPARE (FP7n°602525) to CA, PO, SV; and initial funds in support of the deep phenotyping clinical study from philanthropic donors, Gilead, Merck and Novartis to JG, JH, LH; the Ricerca Corrente Program by the Italian Ministry of Health to AC, CPr, GS, AU, VV; the National Megaprojects of China for Infectious Diseases (2017ZX10103009-001, 2018ZX10305409-001-005), Double Firstclass projects from the Ministry of Education to the National Research Center for Translational Medicine Shanghai to SJC; Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01) to LJ.

Conflict of Interest: Rudi Balling reports being a founder/shareholder of ITTM S.A. and Megeno S.A., outside the submitted work, he is co-inventor and holder of two issued patents; James Heath reports personal fees and other from PACT Pharma, outside the submitted work; Hiroaki Kitano reports grants from Minister of Health, Welfare, and Labor of Japanese Government, grants from Okinawa Prefecture Government, outside the submitted work; Doron Lancet reports personal fees from Weizmann Institute of Science and LifeMap Science Inc., outside the submitted work; Catherine Larue reports personal fees from Genfit, outside the submitted work; Peter Openshaw reports personal fees for consultancy work with Janssen, J&J and Sanofi, grants from MRC, European Union, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and a collaborative grant with GSK, outside the submitted work; Susanna Palkonen reports grants from Aimmune, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, DBV Technologies, GSK, Leo Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi Genzyme, outside the submitted work, is employed by the EFA who receives unrestricted grants from corporate entities as above, represents EFA in the following advisory groups of these entities: Astra Zeneca COPD Advisory Committee, GSK Health Advisory Board and Novartis European Patient Advisory Group, receives no personal gain, honoraria, when applicable expenses are payed to her organization, is in a voluntary function the Chair of the Patient Access Partnership PACT who receives unrestricted grants from EFPIA, MedTech Europe, EUCOPE and Medicines for Europe for core operations, and project grants from individual companies, outside the submitted work; Christophe Pison reports personal fees and non-financial support from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Novartis, outside the submitted work; Mihael Polymeropulos reports other from Vanda Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work; Ulrike Protzer reports grants from VIR Biotechnology, grants and non-financial support from Roche, grants from Alios-J&J, personal fees from Abbvie, Arbutus, Dicerna, Gilead, GSK, MSD, Vaccitech, personal fees from University Hospital Cologne, grants and other from SCG Cell Therapy, outside the submitted work; Peter Sterk reports other from Breathomix BV, outside the submitted work; Giulio Superti-Furga reports being a shareholder of Proxygen GmbH, Haplogen GmbH and Allcyte GmbH, outside the submitted work; Vincenzo Valentini reports personal fees from Merck Serono, Betaglue, outside the submitted work; Sylvie van der Werf reports other from Sanofi Pasteur, outside the submitted work; she is the holder of four issued patents. The other authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, pandemic, immune system, inflammation, systems medicine, global healthcare, call for action, international coalition

JEL Classification: I10, I19

Suggested Citation

Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Blomberg, Niklas and BONALDO, MYRNA and Boutron, Bertrand and Brahmachari, Samir and Bréchot, Christian and Cesario, Alfredo and Chen, Sai-Juan and Clément, Karine and Danilenko, Daria and Di Meglio, Alberto and Gelemanovic, Andrea and Goble, Carole and Gojobori, Takashi and Goldman, Jason D and Goldman, Michel and Guo, Yi-Ke and Heath, James and Hood, Leroy and Hunter, Peter and Jin, Li and Kitano, Hiroaki and Knoppers, Bartha Maria and Lancet, Doron and Larue, Catherine and Lathrop, Mark and Laville, Martine and Lindner, Ariel B and Magnan, Antoine and Metspalu, Andres and Morin, Edgar and Ng, Lisa F.P. and Nicod, Laurent and Noble, Denis and Nottale, Laurent and Nowotny, Helga and Ochoa, Theresa and Okeke, Iruna and Oni, Tolu and Openshaw, Peter and Oztürk, Mehmet and Palkonen, Susanna and Paweska, Janusz and Pison, Christophe and Polymeropoulos, Mihael and Pristipino, Christian and Protzer, Ulrike and Roca, Josep and Rozman, Damjana and Santolini, Marc and Sanz, Ferran and Scambia, Giovanni and Segal, Eran and Serageldin, Ismail and Soares, Marcelo Bento and Sterk, Peter and Sugano, Sumio and Superti-Furga, Giulio and Supple, David and Tegnér, Jesper and Uhlen, Mathias and Urbani, Andrea and Valencia, Alfonso and Valentini, Vincenzo and van der Werf, Sylvie and Vinciguerra, Manlio and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Wouters, Emiel, COVID-19 and Beyond: A Call for Action and Audacious Solidarity to All the Citizens and Nations, It Is Humanity’s Fight (June 18, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3630412 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3630412

Charles Auffray (Contact Author)

EISBM ( email )

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Rudi Balling

LCSB ( email )

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Niklas Blomberg

ELIXIR ( email )

Wellcome Genome Campus
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MYRNA BONALDO

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation ( email )

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Bertrand Boutron

EISBM ( email )

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IGIB ( email )

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Global Virus Network, University of South Florida ( email )

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Alfredo Cesario

Policlinico Gemelli ( email )

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Sai-Juan Chen

Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) - State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics ( email )

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Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) - National Research Center for Translational Medicine

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Karine Clément

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital ( email )

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Daria Danilenko

Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza ( email )

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CERN ( email )

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MILS ( email )

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The University of Manchester - School of Computer Science ( email )

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KAUST ( email )

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Swedish Medical Group, Providence St Joseph Health

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I3h Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles ( email )

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Data Science Institute, Imperial College London ( email )

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Institute for Systems Biology

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Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland ( email )

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Li Jin

Fudan University - Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development

China

Fudan University - State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering

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Fudan University - Taizhou Institute of Health Sciences

Taizhou
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Fudan University - Human Phenome Institute

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Hiroaki Kitano

OIST ( email )

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McGill University - Centre for Genomics and Policy ( email )

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Weizmann Institute of Science - Department of Molecular Genetics ( email )

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IBBL ( email )

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McGill Genome Centre ( email )

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Lyon-Sud Hospital ( email )

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Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI), Université de Paris ( email )

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Faculté de Médecine, Université de Nantes ( email )

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Estonian Genome Centre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu ( email )

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APC ( email )

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Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) - Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) ( email )

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Service de Pulmonologie, Centre Hospitalier Vaudois ( email )

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University of Oxford

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Paris-Meudon Observatory ( email )

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Vienna Science and Technology Fund ( email )

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Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia ( email )

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University of Ibadan ( email )

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University of Cambridge ( email )

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Imperial College London ( email )

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Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Dokuz Eylul University ( email )

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Patient Access Partnership ( email )

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National Institute of Communicable Diseases ( email )

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University Grenoble Alpes - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble (CHU Grenoble Alpes)

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Vanda Pharmaceuticals ( email )

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Italian Association for Systems Medicine and Healthcare, San Filippo Neri Hospital ( email )

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Technische Universität München (TUM) - Institute of Virology ( email )

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University of Paris-Saclay - Molecular Genetics of RNA Viruses ( email )

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