The Wall Street Journal
By Bojan Pancevski in Berlin and Gabriele Steinhauser in JohannesburgThe biotech firm plans to build a factory in Africa and develop a manufacturing network with local partners to transfer its technology based on messenger RNA, a genetic molecule, to a continent that has suffered from a lack of access to vaccinesand other lifesaving treatment, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said.The company’s new venture aims to produce a highly effective mRNA vaccine with durable protective immunity to prevent and eventually eradicate malaria, he said.The move marks a further expansion into the infectious-diseases market for the company, which was founded to develop next-generation cancer treatments. BioNTech has created a dedicated infectious-diseases department and plans to announce further vaccine projects for other conditions this year, Dr. Sahin said.Monday’s announcement follows months of debate about how to tackle Africa’s shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, which emerged after rich nations bought most of the available doses and many governments, including the U.S. and the world’s biggest vaccine maker, India, restricted exports.The U.S. has urged companies such as BioNTech to offer their patents to enable mass production in developing countries. Africa currently imports 99% of its vaccines, primarily from India.
This [manufacturing] will be in Africa, for Africa,” Dr. Sahin said in an interview from his home in Mainz, Germany, where BioNTech is based.“Giving away patents doesn’t create vaccines, throwing a recipe to someone doesn’t create vaccines,” Dr. Sahin said, weighing in publicly for the first time on the debate over patent waivers.mRNA technology has been at the center of the push to build up manufacturing in Africa, after Covid-19 vaccines like those developed by BioNTech and Moderna Inc. proved more effective than other shots. Manufacturing experts say mRNA shots could be especially promising for the continent, since they are in many ways easier to produce than traditional vaccines that require live pathogens.Tuberculosis and malaria, which is especially dangerous for children under 5, together kill some 800,000 Africans annually. Developing a shot against the pathogens—a bacteria and a parasite, respectively—could be more challenging than for the coronavirus. The BioNTech malaria shot research will focus on targeting parts of the parasite to prevent it from entering the body, as well as on programming the immune system to identify and destroy the pathogen, Dr. Sahin said.
By Bojan Pancevski in Berlin and Gabriele Steinhauser in JohannesburgThe biotech firm plans to build a factory in Africa and develop a manufacturing network with local partners to transfer its technology based on messenger RNA, a genetic molecule, to a continent that has suffered from a lack of access to vaccinesand other lifesaving treatment, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said.The company’s new venture aims to produce a highly effective mRNA vaccine with durable protective immunity to prevent and eventually eradicate malaria, he said.The move marks a further expansion into the infectious-diseases market for the company, which was founded to develop next-generation cancer treatments. BioNTech has created a dedicated infectious-diseases department and plans to announce further vaccine projects for other conditions this year, Dr. Sahin said.Monday’s announcement follows months of debate about how to tackle Africa’s shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, which emerged after rich nations bought most of the available doses and many governments, including the U.S. and the world’s biggest vaccine maker, India, restricted exports.The U.S. has urged companies such as BioNTech to offer their patents to enable mass production in developing countries. Africa currently imports 99% of its vaccines, primarily from India.
This [manufacturing] will be in Africa, for Africa,” Dr. Sahin said in an interview from his home in Mainz, Germany, where BioNTech is based.“Giving away patents doesn’t create vaccines, throwing a recipe to someone doesn’t create vaccines,” Dr. Sahin said, weighing in publicly for the first time on the debate over patent waivers.mRNA technology has been at the center of the push to build up manufacturing in Africa, after Covid-19 vaccines like those developed by BioNTech and Moderna Inc. proved more effective than other shots. Manufacturing experts say mRNA shots could be especially promising for the continent, since they are in many ways easier to produce than traditional vaccines that require live pathogens.Tuberculosis and malaria, which is especially dangerous for children under 5, together kill some 800,000 Africans annually. Developing a shot against the pathogens—a bacteria and a parasite, respectively—could be more challenging than for the coronavirus. The BioNTech malaria shot research will focus on targeting parts of the parasite to prevent it from entering the body, as well as on programming the immune system to identify and destroy the pathogen, Dr. Sahin said.