President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the United States had licensed key technology used in current Covid-19 vaccines to the World Health Organization, which would allow manufacturers around the world to work with the Global Health Agency to develop their own vaccines against the virus.
The National Institutes of Health has licensed its stabilized protein technology with WHO spikes and the United Nations Patent Fund, Biden said.
Spike protein is a component in vaccines that elicits an immune response, encouraging the body to fight the virus. NIH technology keeps proteins in a configuration that allows them to produce a stronger immune response. The WHO and the Drug Patent Group can now sublicense technology to generic drug manufacturers around the world.
“We are making available health technologies owned by the United States government, including stabilized chic protein used in many Covid-19 vaccines,” Biden said.
The decision to share the vaccine technology comes ahead of a virtual global summit on Covid-19 hosted by the United States on Thursday. The WHO said in a statement that the license would make key technology available to people in low- and middle-income countries and help end the pandemic.
Although the technology shared by the United States is important, it is only one component of the vaccine and does not include the complete RNA code needed for recording. NIH and Moderna, which have worked together to develop a taxpayer-funded vaccine, are currently locked in a dispute over a separate patent for the entire mRNA. Vaccines inject mRNA code, which directs human cells to produce harmless copies of viral spike proteins to elicit an immune response.
Negotiations between NIH and Moderna to resolve the dispute are ongoing, according to the health agency. The outcome of the dispute will have major implications for technology sharing. White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a March interview with reporters, indicated that the United States is likely to license the mRNA sequence if the dispute with Moderna is resolved in favor of the NIH.
“Whatever we can do, we will do,” Fauci said when asked about the division of the mRNA code if the NIH wins the dispute. In the same call, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Besser said that the United States would “push the framework where the law allows” when it comes to technology sharing.
The WHO has repeatedly called on vaccine manufacturers to share their knowledge, but Pfizer and Moderna have refused to license the technology behind their vaccines in the drug patent fund. Modern, however, does not enforce its patents in 92 poorer countries. Although Pfizer does not share the technology, it gives the US government a billion doses for donations to poorer countries.
The WHO has visited vaccine manufacturers, setting up a production center in South Africa to produce vaccines based on the RNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna in their recordings. South African scientists are producing generic copies of Modern’s vaccine based on publicly available information because the biotechnology company is not enforcing its patents.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebrejesus called on Moderna’s shareholders at the annual meeting of the biotechnology company to vote for a resolution calling for a third-party investigation into the feasibility of technology transfer.
“If Moderna worked with us, we could submit the hub vaccine for approval at least a year in advance, which would save lives, reduce the risk of variants and reduce the economic consequences of the pandemic,” Tedros said.
The United States is also donating another $ 200 million to the World Bank Pandemic Preparedness Fund for a total contribution of $ 450 million and an additional $ 20 million through the United States Agency for International Development to support Covid tests and antiviral treatments in eight countries. The White House said it was also expanding its vaccine donations through Pfizer to include doses and vaccines for children.
Donations are far from the $ 5 billion that the White House has asked Congress to support vaccination around the world. Congress failed to pass Biden’s broader $ 22.5 billion Covid funding request due to opposition from Republicans who oppose spending so much.
Senators reached a $ 10 billion funding agreement for Covid in April that did not include money for a global vaccination campaign. Republicans have blocked the Senate from passing $ 10 billion in a dispute over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to end a controversial policy that sent asylum seekers back to Mexico as a public health measure known as Title 42.