FILE PHOTO: Vial and sryinge are seen in front of displayed Moderna logo - 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. 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.
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.