MRNA tech to ease local vaccine production
SIX African countries, South Africa among them, will be the first in the continent to receive technology from the World Health Organization (WHO) which will enable them to produce their own MRNA vaccines.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO’S director-general, said these countries included South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and Senegal.
A South African vaccine technology transfer hub owned by Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines (Afrigen), a biotechnology company in Cape Town, will host academic groups and biotech companies from outside the country who will work with recipients to enable them to produce vaccines locally.
The global MRNA technology transfer hub was established in 2021 to support manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries produce their own vaccines, ensuring that they have all the necessary operating procedures and know-how to manufacture MRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards.
Primarily set up to address the Covid-19 emergency, the hub has the potential to expand manufacturing capacity for other products, putting countries in the driver’s seat when it comes to the kinds of vaccines and other products they need to address their health priorities.
On Friday, Afrigen also announced that it was in the process of developing a second generation Covid-19 vaccine following the success of its first jab, which copied Moderna data. The company said this generation would contain less MRNA, but will have better thermostability.
Petro Terblanche, Afrigen managing director, said the current vaccine was comparable with Moderna Covid-19 (MRNA-1273) vaccine, as the developer uses the same sequence and processes enzymes.
The WHO said the clinical trials were expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year, with approval expected in 2024.
“This vaccine is at the laboratory scale, but will start preclinical confirmatory studies soon. It will meet all stringent regulatory standards once produced at a good manufacturing practice scale,” Terblanche said. “Afrigen plans to develop a pipeline of improved vaccines and new vaccines for disease in Africa.”
She also shared that the firm was looking at developing MRNA vaccines for tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, Ebola, lassa fever and influenza.
Dr Kenneth Jacobs, chairperson of the portfolio committee on health, welcomed the WHO announcement, saying this would ensure that the African continent is self-sufficient in the supply of vaccines. He said the initial effort was centred on MRNA technologies and biologicals, which were important for vaccine manufacturing and could also be used for other products, such as insulin to treat diabetes, cancer medicines and, potentially, vaccines for other priority diseases.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “The WHO has listened to our collective call to establish Covid-19 manufacturing sites in low- and middle-income countries in the midst of vaccine inequality.”