To increase access to mRNA vaccines for defense against multiple illnesses in Africa, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $40 million to a Belgian biotech business and two top African vaccine producers.
The Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal and Biovac in South Africa will each receive $5 million to purchase the technology, with the Nivelles-based Quantoom Biosciences receiving $20 million to accelerate their mRNA synthesis platform development. An additional $10 million is made available for use by other vaccine producers.
MRNA-based vaccines revolutionized the world’s reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic, yet access to them was wildly unequal. Since then, several programs have been launched to address this and apply the new technology to current concerns, such as malaria and TB, which disproportionately impact lower-income nations.
The World Health Organization opened its mRNA vaccine technology center in Cape Town in April this year. One participant, Afrigen Biologics, created the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 in Africa in a laboratory setting.
However, mRNA vaccines are still expensive, especially at the required volume for testing and distributing secure and reliable immunizations.
A Gates Foundation spokesperson told Reuters that Quantoom’s Ntensify technology enables batches of mRNA to be manufactured more effectively and affordably at scale, ahead of an announcement at its 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Dakar on Monday.
“(This) is an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region,” said Dr. Amadou Sall, president of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar.
Gates provided funds to Quantoom’s parent firm, Univercells, in 2016, which was used to create Ntensify.
The technology is already being utilized by Afrigen, especially for creating vaccines against gonorrhea and Rift Valley sickness. Compared to conventional mRNA technology, Gates and Afrigen said it might reduce the cost of manufacturing a vaccine by half.
Petro Terblanche, chief executive of Afrigen, stated over the phone from Dakar on Sunday that the goal of the second generation of mRNA was to lower the price.
