MPP’s patents and licences database (MedsPaL) is a free resource that provides information on the intellectual property status of health technologies and products. As such, it is designed to facilitate greater access to the most effective medicines and technologies for those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

MPP News recently spoke to Professor Petro Terblanche, the CEO of Afrigen, a technology platform biotech company providing the technology development, training and technology transfer for the 15 Partners of the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme. Led by MPP and WHO, this global initiative aims to improve health security by establishing sustainable, locally-owned mRNA manufacturing capabilities in and for LMICs.


How does MedsPaL help Afrigen with its work?

We are the centre of the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme. We were introduced to VaxPaL, the forerunner to MedsPaL, in 2022 when the mRNA programme began. Any organisation that’s involved in research development and manufacturing has to have a very good understanding of patent law and patent portfolios. We couldn’t operate in biotech or work in product development without understanding the patent landscape. And the patent landscape is particularly complex with mRNA because of the novelty of the platform.

The MPP team is great at providing the ‘higher level’ context, with details of key areas and trends. Then, with that data we can go on to look at some specifics, which informs our decision-making about the trends in the current patent landscape. It gives us the granular detail we need so that we can develop a better strategic approach. Our focus now is to make use of MedsPaL as we develop more products, which of course MPP would license to partners. This ensures we create sustainability for the network.

How does Afrigen establish which products to develop?

When we select a product, we first make an assessment of the unmet needs. We ask ourselves – ‘what are the gaps in the market’? ‘What is the disease burden in Africa’? That’s our first priority. Secondly, in middle-income countries, how can we obtain access to antigens or partner groups of antigens and then develop a product we would want to take through to licence?

Nine out of ten products are likely to fail in the trial phase, so we need to build a portfolio. Through using MedsPaL we have been able to establish which of the 20 or 30 priority pathogens would be suitable for mRNA from a business perspective.

It is incredibly complex looking at territories and jurisdictions and how they overlap. We look at the issues surrounding the freedom to operate in the different territories of the 15 partners. The challenge we have with freedom to operate searches is that the patent itself tells you nothing. The claims have to be examined to establish the true picture. But MedsPaL gives us the visibility we need by showing the true landscape of the core areas and the biggest activities.

How does MedsPaL help with innovation?

I think MedsPaL is a great contribution and global good, and a credit to MPP. For us too, it will be very useful in the diagnostic space and of course the other area that’s evolving, in the AMR field. Likewise, innovation needs to be at the core of pandemic preparedness, and success will require a very good understanding of the intellectual property landscape.

I think it’s important to draw a distinction between how the private sector operates as opposed to academia and the nonprofit sector. The private sector will not make a move without first making a very thorough analysis of the business landscape and assessing if there is an opportunity for a return on investment. They’ll establish how crowded the space is from a business perspective. Is there room for innovation? Is it worth getting into this space?

Research by academics often neglects to look at the patent landscape, as they focus more on the burden and prevalence of disease. But understanding the patent landscape is so important  for the business sector, as they know they cannot achieve a return on investment if patents are already in place.

Moving to specific disease targets was incredibly valuable for us. When I started mapping the different jurisdictions, and looked at the lifetimes left for the patents, MedsPaL became my source of strategic analysis. With MedsPaL I was able to ask myself, ‘What do we develop in certain regions’?

MedsPaL has really helped us with that layer of decision making, as we need to choose only products for which there is a clear unmet need, and for which there is a probability of technical success and where we can overcome the patent landscape to make a viable product. Looking ahead, MedsPaL will also be very valuable for understanding the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) space. I really think MPP should invest in MedsPaL and expand it.

Have MPP’s training courses on MedsPaL helped the Afrigen team?

The MPP training courses on MedsPaL are fantastic. They start from the basics and build from there, and that’s what partners really need. So it covers topics such as  ‘What is the patent’? ‘Why do we patent’? ‘What is the patent jurisdiction’? ‘Why do we have different jurisdictions’? ‘What is a provisional patent’? ‘What are the priorities’? I’ve insisted that Afrigen’s postdocs and interns attend these courses because they inculcate a clear and accessible understanding of a very complex system. 

How could MedsPaL ideally further help you?

We need to go one step further and start analysing product-related claims in the context of the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme and the broad R&D and product development that now takes place globally.

Granularity around the claims would add value to the entire Programme, and for the 15 partners and the other R&D partners, as well as the smaller networks that are now evolving geographically.