UK mRNA cancer vaccine trial: Government must insist on affordable access for developing countries

Responding to news that BioNTech and the UK government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for trials exploring personalised mRNA therapies like cancer vaccines, Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Policy co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:

“It is good news that clinical trials will start on using this technology for one of the deadly diseases to humankind, but decades of publicly funded research went into mRNA vaccines. This technology belongs to the people. The UK government should insist that the products of mRNA technology are available and affordable for people in developing countries.

“Globally, almost 10 million people die from cancer each year. The UK government must say how it will ensure any new medicine, vaccine or technology will be made available and affordable to developing countries.

“We must learn the brutal lessons of the COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS pandemics. Monopolies on medical technologies lead to deadly inequalities. Unless governments make affordable access for developing countries a condition for their funding and partnerships, any mRNA cancer medicine or vaccine will remain the preserve of the richest nations.”

/Ends

Notes to editors

This is a reaction to an announcement from BioNTech and the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-partnership-to-boost-research-into-vaccines-for-cancer

Decades of publicly funded research went into mRNA vaccines: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8426978/

BioNTech lobbied against the WHO’s mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, a program aimed at sharing mRNA technology with low and middle-income countries: https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o304

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths. There is a significant variation in treatment availability between countries of different income levels; comprehensive treatment is reportedly available in more than 90% of high-income countries but less than 15% of low-income countries: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer

Media contact

Joe Karp-Sawey, Senior Media Advisor, People’s Vaccine Alliance

[email protected]