This is an issue that is regularly brought up when we talk about the distribution and production of vaccines. Africa is largely forgotten by the vaccination against the coronavirus, in particular because a good part of its countries are struggling to buy doses. As a result, barely 5% of the continent’s eligible population is vaccinated. South Africa, the African country most affected by the pandemic, with more than 2.9 million cases and 88,300 deaths, has therefore decided to do everything possible to no longer depend on the most developed countries and on aid. international.
Supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the South African biotechnology company Afrigen, based in Cape Town, is leading a pilot project that will use “reverse engineering” from an already existing vaccine, to reconstitute a formula similar to Moderna’s mRNA vaccine. The first doses should be ready for clinical trials within a year, according to Afrigen director Petro Terreblanche. Negotiations are underway to obtain a license agreement with the American pharmaceutical giant for the production.
But the project goes further than the production of a simple “copy” of the Moderna vaccine, especially as the American pharmaceutical groups are doing everything not to lift their patents. The idea is to develop this vaccine to adapt it to climatic and production conditions in African countries. While existing mRNA vaccines must be stored at low temperatures, Afrigen’s formulation will ideally require little or no refrigeration, and can be produced in several African countries.