From SEUN AKIOYE/Dakar, Senegal

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), on Monday announced a total of $40 million new investments that would help African countries advance capacities in mRNA research and vaccine manufacturing technology in order to develop high-quality, lifesaving vaccines in large quantities.

The announcement was made in Dakar Senegal by the co-chair of the organization, Bill Gates during the opening session of the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting.

According to the BMGF, the move builds on lessons the foundation has learned from more than 20 years of working with vaccine manufacturers in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICS) and the opportunity to leverage recent scientific advances to develop low-cost, high-quality health tools that reach more people around the world.

Breaking down the details in a press statement, the foundation says the funding will advance access to Quantoom Biosciences’ low-cost, mRNA research and manufacturing platform, which was developed with an early-research Grand Challenges grant made to its parent company, Univercells.

The Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) and Biovac, research institutes with vaccine manufacturing experience based in Senegal and South Africa, respectively, will receive $5 million each to acquire the technology and will be able to use it to develop locally relevant vaccines.

To further advance the technology and lower costs for commercialization, the foundation also will provide $20 million to Quantoom Biosciences, ensuring LMICs can benefit from the next-generation mRNA health tools.

The Gates Foundation will grant another $10 million to other LMIC vaccine manufacturers to be named.

The mRNA technology is considered a potential game-changer for a range of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and Lassa fever, which disproportionately affect people in LMICs.

This new technology can significantly lower the costs of mRNA research and manufacturing and enable expanded access – helping to close critical gaps.

Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for Health and social welfare, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, said: “Putting innovative mRNA technology in the hands of researchers and manufacturers in Africa and around the world will help ensure more people benefit from next-generation vaccines. This collaboration is an encouraging step that will increase access to critical health technologies and help African countries develop vaccines that meet the needs of their people.”

Also Dr. Amadou Sall, CEO of IPD, said: “Expanding our capacity to discover and manufacture affordable mRNA vaccines in Africa is an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region. We welcome this new funding, which will promote the development of lifesaving technologies on the continent while also contributing to global health security by expanding the supply and access to vaccines—allowing us to achieve greater health equity worldwide.”

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mRNA vaccines have simpler research and manufacturing processes than traditional vaccines, so expanding access to this next-generation technology can help countries like Senegal and South Africa gain autonomy to discover and develop low-cost, high-quality vaccines for diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis that are consistent with their health priorities.

Quantoom’s modular mRNA technology addresses common bottlenecks in current mRNA research and manufacturing technologies, making it simpler and cheaper to use. For example, the cost to produce a vaccine could drop by more than 50% with Quantoom’s platform compared to traditional mRNA technology. It could also significantly reduce the need for deeply trained experts, which continues to be a barrier to vaccine production in Africa and elsewhere, while maintaining or even increasing the quality of the product.

“The development of new vaccines is costly, resource intensive, and concentrated in high-income countries. We’re thrilled to partner with IPD and Biovac to scale our technology in Senegal and South Africa and help increase access to novel mRNA vaccines – one of medicine’s most promising new tools,” said José Castillo, CEO of Quantoom Biosciences.

The Star