Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to boost mRNA vaccine initiatives in Africa with USD $40m

To address vaccine inequality and accessibility issues, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to deliver USD $40m to various biotech companies and vaccine manufacturers in support of mRNA vaccine development.

Quantoom Biosciences, based in Nivelles, Belgium, will receive USD $20m. Additionally, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar based in Senegal and Biovac based in South Africa will each receive USD $5m for the purchase of new technologies. USD $10m will be made available to other vaccine manufacturers keen to use the platform. 

Vaccine accessibility and inequality was highlighted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with low-income countries disproportionately affected. These countries are oftentimes also the most affected by diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis that can be prevented with proper vaccination. Various initiatives, such as the WHO’s mRNA vaccine technology hub in Cape Town that opened in April 2023, have sought to address this issue of vaccine inequity. With the aid of this initiative, Afrigen Biologics became the first manufacturers to produce Africa’s first-ever mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. However, the scale of vaccine production and launch remain an expensive endeavour.  

Quantoom hopes to utilise its Ntensify platform to allow vaccine manufacturers to batch-produce mRNA vaccines more efficiently and inexpensively. Chief Executive of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar Dr Amadou Sall states “[This] is an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region.” Afrigen has already started using the Ntensify platform in the development of vaccines for Rift Valley fever and gonorrhoea. Compared to traditional mRNA development technology, the Gates Institute and Afrigen have claimed that they can cut development costs by half. Petro Terblanche, Afrigen’s Chief Executive comments that “The second generation of mRNA is to reduce the cost.” 

Source: Gates gives $40 mln to boost access to mRNA vaccines in Africa [Accessed 16 October 2023] Gates gives $40 mln to boost access to mRNA vaccines in Africa | Reuters