South Africa, which campaigns for equitable access to anti-Covid vaccines, has embarked on the design of the first African messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, to end the continent's dependence on vis rich countries.
Read alsoCovid-19: South Africa lags behind on vaccination
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.
Research and development at the state-of-the-art facilities, which cost around 7.5 million euros, began three months ago.
To date, just 5% of eligible Africans are fully immunized.
Largely lagging behind the rest of the world, Africa is heavily dependent on imports and donated doses by rich countries.
A vaccine "
more suitable for low-income countries
"
"
The bitter lesson we have learned from this pandemic is that Africa is almost entirely dependent
" on vaccines produced outside the continent, Richard Mihigo, vaccine coordinator at WHO Africa, told AFP.
The Afrigen project aims to put an end to it by locally developing an innovative vaccine, adapted to conditions, particularly climatic conditions in Africa.
"
What we are looking for is a second generation vaccine
," explains Martin Friede, vaccine coordinator for the WHO in Geneva.
Read alsoCovid-19: WHO deplores the "shocking inequalities" in access to vaccines, especially for Africa
“
We have to start with a Moderna lookalike
,” he continues.
But the idea is to develop a vaccine "
more suitable for low-income countries
".
While existing mRNA vaccines should be stored at low temperatures, Afrigen's formulation will ideally require little or no refrigeration.
“
Africa must become self-reliant in vaccine production over the next 20 years,
” Friede said.
Once the formula is finalized, Afrigen plans to train other African countries to manufacture the vaccine.
South African Biovac, located in the same complex as Afrigen, will be the first to produce the new vaccine on a commercial scale.
Pressure to lift patents on anti-Covid vaccines
Created by Unitaid - an international organization for purchasing medicines for poor countries - the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), which negotiates treatment licenses with patent holders, is leading talks with Moderna.
With any luck, "
we might get a deal that they don't enforce their patents,
" MPP director Charles Gore said last month.
Read alsoInnovation: the European unitary patent finally on track
Pharmaceutical giants have so far resisted pressure to lift patents on anti-Covid vaccines.
South Africa and India in the lead have campaigned for a temporary lifting allowing countries in need of doses to locally produce cheaper generics.
Last week, Moderna announced plans to build a state-of-the-art mRNA factory in Africa that will produce up to 500 million doses of vaccine per year.
South Africa is officially the African country most affected by the pandemic, with more than 2.9 million cases and 88,300 deaths.
Several other anti-Covid vaccine production projects in Africa are under study, in Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal.
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