Last Thursday, the South African company Afrigen Biologics announced a significant achievement: In collaboration with researchers from University of the Witwatersrand, it has nearly completed the process of reverse engineering the Moderna COVID vaccine. This milestone was met after Moderna had refused to provide the recipe and know-how to a South African technology transfer hub established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The development marks an important scientific breakthrough that could eventually increase access to the mRNA vaccine, which is the premium treatment for the Omicron variant. But it also illustrates the cruel absurdity of a global system in which scientists are forced to spend precious time and resources recreating something that already exists, but is hoarded to protect industry profits, in a context where every moment of delay means more lives lost.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Moderna is making tremendous profits by selling its life-saving vaccine. It announced on January 10 that it expects 2022 sales to reach $18.5 billion, just from contracts for its COVID vaccines. This enormous revenue is due, in part, to the fact that the company produces one of the only two mRNA vaccines in circulation: the mRNA vaccines are the most effective against Omicron, and the simplest to adapt to new variants. The other company producing an mRNA vaccine is Pfizer.