The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a project to accelerate the development and accessibility of mRNA vaccine candidates in low- and middle-income countries.
The project, which aims to have these candidates manufactured locally, is being led by Argentina’s Sinergium Biotech which will leverage the WHO’s and the Medicines Patent Pool’s (MPP) mRNA Technology Transfer Programme. The programme, which was jointly developed by the WHO and MPP, was launched in July 2021 with the aim of building capacity in low- and middle-income countries for the development of and production of mRNA-based vaccines.
Avian influenza viruses are a significant public health risk due to their widespread circulation in animals and potential to cause a future pandemic, the WHO said.
“This announcement underscores the importance of not only geographically diversifying the innovation and production of health technologies including and recognising the capacities in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also the importance of early planning for access and the sharing of knowledge and technologies during the research and development processes.” said Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization.
Sinergium Biotech, a partner in the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme, has developed candidate H5N1 vaccines and aims to establish proof of concept in preclinical models. Once this phase has been completed, the technology, expertise and materials will be shared with other manufacturing partners, which will bolster pandemic preparedness efforts.
Concerns about avian influenza impacting humans has already prompted the development of vaccines. In June, the European Commission announced that it had signed a joint procurement framework contract with CSL Seqirus UK for the supply of up to 665,000 pre-pandemic doses of a zoonotic influenza vaccine. This vaccine is intended for people who are most exposed to potential transfer of avian influenza from birds such as poultry farmers and vets.
The US government is also backing the development of mRNA-based influenza vaccines in cooperation with Moderna, with a focus on H5N1, among others.
Ongoing work under the WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework is aimed at improving and strengthening the sharing of knowledge on influenza viruses with human pandemic potential and increasing LMIC accesses to vaccines.
Further reading:
Visit Blog