Gates Foundation publicizes investments to advance mRNA vaccine research and manufacturing

On the 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced latest investments to advance access to mRNA research and vaccine manufacturing technology that can support low- and middle-income countries’ (LMICs) capability to develop high-quality, lifesaving vaccines at scale.

The move builds on lessons the muse has learned from greater than 20 years of working with vaccine manufacturers in LMICs and the chance to leverage recent scientific advances to develop low-cost, high-quality health tools that reach more people around the globe. mRNA technology is taken into account a possible game-changer for a spread of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and Lassa fever, which disproportionately affect people in LMICs. This latest technology can significantly lower the prices of mRNA research and manufacturing and enable expanded access—helping to shut critical gaps.

“Putting revolutionary mRNA technology within the hands of researchers and manufacturers in Africa and around the globe will help ensure more people profit from next-generation vaccines,” said Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s coordinating minister of health and social welfare and a world expert on vaccines. “This collaboration is an encouraging step that can increase access to critical health technologies and help African countries develop vaccines that meet the needs of their people.”

The muse announced a complete of US$40 million in funding to 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 US$5 million each to accumulate the technology and can find a way to make use of it to develop locally relevant vaccines. To further advance the technology and lower costs for commercialization, the muse also will provide US$20 million to Quantoom Biosciences, ensuring LMICs can profit from the next-generation mRNA health tools. The Gates Foundation will grant one other US$10 million to other LMIC vaccine manufacturers to be named.

This latest funding builds on the muse’s previous US$55 million investment in mRNA manufacturing technology.

Expanding our capability to find and manufacture inexpensive mRNA vaccines in Africa is a vital and obligatory step towards vaccine self-reliance within the region. We welcome this latest funding, which can promote the event of lifesaving technologies on the continent while also contributing to global health security by expanding the availability and access to vaccines—allowing us to realize greater health equity worldwide.”

Dr. Amadou Sall, CEO, IPD

mRNA vaccines have simpler research and manufacturing processes than traditional vaccines, so expanding access to this next-generation technology may help countries like Senegal and South Africa gain autonomy to find and develop low-cost, high-quality vaccines for diseases corresponding to malaria and tuberculosis which might be consistent with their health priorities.

“Innovation may be transformative, but provided that it reaches the individuals who need it most,” said Morena Makhoana, CEO of Biovac. “This collaboration will help close critical gaps in access to promising mRNA vaccines against diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest. It’ll also assist us in our mission to determine end-to-end vaccine manufacturing capability at scale in Africa for global supply.”

Quantoom’s modular mRNA technology addresses common bottlenecks in current mRNA research and manufacturing technologies, making it simpler and cheaper to make use of. For instance, the associated fee to supply a vaccine could drop by greater than 50% with Quantoom’s platform in comparison with traditional mRNA technology. It could also significantly reduce the necessity for deeply trained experts, which continues to be a barrier to vaccine production in Africa and elsewhere, while maintaining and even increasing the standard of the product.

“Expanding the supply of inexpensive, high-quality vaccines that meet the needs of local communities is top-of-the-line ways to enhance global health outcomes and reduce preventable deaths,” said Trevor Mundel, president of the muse’s Global Health Division. “By lowering barriers to access for low- and middle-income countries, we may help ensure more people around the globe profit from lifesaving health innovation.”

“The event of recent vaccines is dear, resource intensive, and concentrated in high-income countries,” said José Castillo, CEO of Quantoom Biosciences. “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 in every of medicine’s most promising latest tools.”

The extra funding for Quantoom builds on an initial grant made in 2016 to Univercells in response to a Grand Challenges call for brand spanking new interventions for vaccine manufacturing. The Univercells proposal focused on developing modular engineering principles that will facilitate decentralized, small-footprint manufacturing of vaccines.

IPD plans to start out manufacturing essential measles and rubella vaccines using Univercells’ original vaccine manufacturing technology, expanding the region’s capability to deliver routine immunization campaigns.