Moderna Is Sharing Its Vaccine Technology With Low-Income Countries. But That Doesn ’t Mean Locally Produced Shots Are Coming Soon

Moderna, the Massachusetts-based company behind one of the two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, made the decision in 2020 not to enforce the patent on its shot. The move was meant to encourage low- and middle-income countries that couldn’t afford to purchase billions of doses of the vaccine (as the U.S., Canada, and many European countries had done) to develop their own versions of the shot using less expensive resources. On Mar. 8, Moderna went a step further, saying that it will now extend that promise indefinitely in the 92 low- and middle-income countries that are receiving doses from COVAX, the global vaccine distribution project that is procuring and distributing vaccines to these nations. However, it could start to require licensing fees from developed countries that are using the company’s technology, the company’s CEO said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Moderna also announced a new program that signals it is open to sharing its technology more broadly with the developing world. “Waiving the patents provides that others can create their own capabilities to use the knowledge we created, the intellectual property we created, showing that mRNA vaccines work, and the COVID-19 vaccine specifically, and essentially copy that work the best they can to make their own versions,” Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, tells TIME. “It’s about establishing the infrastructure globally and regionally to address needs.” The comp...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news