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 The U.S. biotechnology company also said it will make its messenger
RNA (mRNA) technology available to researchers working on new
vaccines for emerging and neglected diseases through a program
called mRNA Access.
Moderna announced its strategy ahead of the Global Pandemic
Preparedness Summit sponsored by the UK government and the Coalition
for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international
coalition set up five years ago to prepare for future disease
threats.
Moderna is already collaborating with partners on vaccines against
some of the 15 pathogens, which include Chikungunya, Crimean-Congo
hemorrhagic fever, Dengue, Ebola, Malaria, Marburg, Lassa fever,
MERS and COVID-19.
Those collaborations include a Nipah virus vaccine with the U.S.
National Institutes of Health and an HIV vaccine with the Gates
Foundation and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Moderna
President Stephen Hoge said in an interview.
The company will either seek out new partners for the others or
develop them internally, he said.
Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told a virtual press
briefing on Monday that the 15 viruses are known threats that have
not been addressed by many large drugmakers. The COVID-19 pandemic,
which has killed six million people worldwide and sickened millions
more, has made clear that needs to change, Bancel said.
"Too many lives were lost in the last few years,” he said.
Early in the COVID pandemic, Moderna pledged not to enforce its
vaccine patents during the emergency phase of the health crisis.
That has allowed for development of a vaccine manufacturing plant in
Africa backed by the World Health Organization as part of a pilot
project to give poor and middle-income countries the know-how to
make COVID-19 vaccines.
Moderna said it will make that pledge permanent for the 92 low- and
middle income countries that qualify for assistance under the COVAX
Advance Market Commitment (AMC) led by the GAVI vaccine alliance.
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 A company spokesperson said
Moderna will not enforce patents for COVID-19
vaccines developed in South Africa by WHO-backed
Afrigen Biologics for AMC-92 low- and
middle-income countries.
Although it will not enforce its patents in
these countries, Hoge said Moderna does not
intend to share its vaccine technology with the
WHO-backed technology transfer hub in South
Africa, in spite of lobbying efforts by the
organization. Earlier on Monday,
the company said it will set up a manufacturing facility in Kenya,
its first in Africa, to produce mRNA vaccines, including against
COVID-19.
As part of its future pandemic plan, Moderna intends to make its
technology available to academic research labs to test their own
theories for vaccines to address emerging and neglected diseases.
Hoge said some of these may eventually result in partnerships with
Moderna to address the 15 priority pathogens.
"What we want to make sure happens is that scientists who have great
ideas for how they could make vaccines will be able to access our
standards and technology, almost as if they worked at Moderna," Hoge
said.
Initially, the program will start with a few academic labs, but Hoge
expects it to expand rapidly. He sees the program as a way to expand
discovery of vaccines using mRNA technology.
"We want to make sure that we allow others to explore the space that
frankly, we can't get to," he said. "And that's really what this is
about."
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Michael Erman in New
Jersey; additional reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by
Bill Berkrot)
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