An mRNA vaccine technology hub has been launched in Cape Town. The move follows the proposal of the hub in 2021 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Medicines Patent Pool.
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The idea for the facility was established by the WHO during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase access to life-saving medication in underserved countries. To this end, Cape Town-based biotechnology company Afrigen Biologics has been selected for a pilot project that will focus on providing the knowledge and licences to make COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Minister of Higher Education and Science Blade Nzimande says the work of the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub extends beyond just COVID-19. ‘The capabilities we are building are looking to empower us to deal with other future pandemics whose vaccines could use the same mRNA technology platform. It is a vision that has set its eyes on diseases that are prevalent in our environments such as Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS.’
News24 reports that Afrigen Biologics used the open-source sequence of Moderna Inc’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to create its AfriVac 2121 shot at lab scale. The company is now scaling up production.
‘The entire Afrigen team are thrilled to reach this important milestone with the completion of the mRNA technology platform. This platform is housed within the end-to-end mRNA vaccine development and production facility where the mRNA Hub Covid 19 vaccine candidate AfriVac 2121 is currently in scale-up phase,’ says Professor Petro Terblanche, executive director of Afrigen. ‘Over the last 18 months, Afrigen has undergone an incredible transformation with the support of a network of partners and mentors enabled by this Programme. We have grown our capability and capacity to meet the highest quality standards of mRNA vaccine development, serving the objective to build sustainable capacity in LMICs to produce mRNA vaccines.’
In the meantime, Afrigen has established a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing process at laboratory scale, and is building on the model in a bid to manufacture vaccine batches to be used in phase one and two clinical trials. The company will also continue to provide training and technology transfers to network partners.
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