Los Angles Times billion owner pledges $210 million to help South Africa produce coronavius vaccines.

LA Times owner pledges $210 million to transfer vaccine technology to  South Africa

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire biotechnology entrepreneur who owns The Los Angeles Times, announced on Wednesday that his corporation and his philanthropic foundation would commit an initial 3 billion South African rand (about $210 million) to transfer the latest technology for producing vaccines and biological therapies to South Africa, where he was born.

Companies there, he said, could then use them to make a second generation of vaccines to address variants of the coronavirus that might make current vaccines less effective.

Dr. Soon-Shiong spoke at an international meeting on the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics that was co-chaired by the director-general of the World Health Organization.

Transferring the technology is as important as waiving intellectual property rights, Dr. Soon-Shiong said. “Our goal and our commitment is to come back to South Africa and transfer this kind of technology,” he said.

Referring to South Africa, he said, “Not only do we have the science, we have the human capital and the capacity and the desire.”

Dr. Soon-Shiong said he hoped that the technology, including therapies and vaccines built on viral vectors, messenger RNA and adjuvants, would be used not only to meet the immediate coronavirus crisis, but also to address neglected diseases including schistosomiasis, a parasitic infection common in sub-Saharan Africa. ...