Status: December 15, 2021 3:10 p.m.
There is a lack of vaccines, especially in developing countries, although companies around the world could produce mRNA vaccines. But they lack the technology. A laboratory from South Africa now wants to change that.
The researchers are working under high pressure in the laboratory of the South African biotechnology company Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines. Because they want to develop Africa’s first own corona vaccine in the fight against the global pandemic. This is intended to imitate and improve the highly effective mRNA preparations from Moderna and BioNTech, which are already approved for the market.
The aim of the researchers in South Africa is to reduce dependence on the western pharmaceutical industry. Because currently the corona vaccines are manufactured by western pharmaceutical companies that produce under patent protection. This is also reflected in the vaccination progress: More than two thirds of the corona vaccination doses have so far been administered in industrialized countries, only a fraction in developing countries. So far, only 7.35 percent of the 1.2 billion people on the African continent have received a full vaccination. Research in Cape Town will not be able to change that quickly, however, because the developers expect the vaccine to be ready for the market in a good two years.
120 companies could produce vaccines
During this time, other companies could help fill the gaps in the vaccine supply: According to the organization Human Rights Watch, more than 120 pharmaceutical companies in Asia, Africa and Latin America are able to produce an mRNA vaccine. They just lack the technology that the pharmaceutical companies in Germany and the USA have developed. Human Rights Watch therefore appeals to companies and governments in Germany and the USA to enable this technology transfer. This is the only way the world can get the corona pandemic under control.
The list published today shows that “the production of mRNA vaccines outside the US and Germany is possible,” said the human rights organization. Moderna as well as BioNTech and Pfizer would have only needed three to seven months themselves to be able to manufacture the vaccines in their own new factories. The manufacturers, however, argue that the construction of an mRNA production and the training of the staff are complicated and could take years. The European Union and other countries are also opposed to the revocation of patents: Without patent protection, pharmaceutical companies would not be ready to make the high investments that such innovations would bring about.
Working with publicly available sequences
The South African company also receives no support from large corporations. In July, Moderna issued a waiver of intellectual property rights for its mRNA preparation. But: “Neither Moderna nor BioNTech / Pfizer have given us a technology transfer,” says Afrigen’s managing director Petro Terblanche.
That is why Afrigen’s researchers are working on the development of the new vaccine with the publicly available genetic sequence from Moderna and with the help of scientific advisors. “The waiver allows us to legally bring the vaccine to clinical trials without infringing intellectual property,” Terblanche explains. The first studies will be started as early as the beginning of next year.
No patent on new vaccine
If the development is successful, the company could at least partially address the vaccine shortage in developing countries. Because the pharmaceutical company from Cape Town does not want to make a profit with its vaccine. The new vaccine will not be patented, but will be a kind of “open source technology”, explains Afrigen’s managing director. Probably also because it is heavily funded by the World Health Organization (WHO): It has allocated a budget of 92 million euros for vaccine development.
For them, a broad and fast technology transfer has “absolute priority”, according to Terblanche. According to the WHO, around 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East have already expressed their interest. “It’s an intervention. We’re going to change the global health landscape,” said Terblanche. The WHO will grant free licenses to developing and emerging countries and thus enable production capacities to be built up all over the world.
The companies Moderna and BioNTech / Pfizer, according to their own statements, have meanwhile tried to find suitable partners in other countries themselves. Moderna wants to set up production facilities in Africa, possible locations are Senegal, Rwanda and South Africa. BioNTech is also planning to start production of its corona vaccine in South Africa in a few weeks.