Gates Sees Vaccine Technology Promise as Drug Resistance Rises
- Billionaire expects mRNA approach to speed development
- Foundation leader adds $1 billion to malaria efforts
Bill Gates
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates sees emerging vaccine technologies as one of the most promising realms in the pursuit of new medicines amid the rising threat of drug-resistant strains of deadly diseases.
Vaccines that use a mirror image of DNA to halt the growth of bacteria and viruses appear capable of speeding development of the prevention tools dramatically, Gates said in an interview. Moderna Therapeutics Inc. and CureVac GmbH are two companies developing the approach, Gates said, which is based on a genetic messenger called mRNA.