A vial and sryinge are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo in this illustration taken on Jan 11, 2021.Moderna Inc said on Monday it plans to develop and begin testing vaccines targeting 15 of the world's most worrisome pathogens by 2025 and will permanently wave its Covid-19 vaccine patents for shots intended for certain low- and middle-income countries.
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. That has allowed for development of a vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa backed by the World Health Organisation as part of a pilot project to give poor and middle-income countries the know-how to make Covid-19 vaccines.
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 organisation.