Who funded the research behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine? Approximating the funding to the University of Oxford for the research and development of the ChAdOx vaccine technology

Abstract

Objectives: The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or Vaxzevira) builds on nearly two decades of research and development (R&D) into Chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx) technology at the University of Oxford. This study aims to approximate the funding for the R&D of the ChAdOx technology and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and assess the transparency of funding reporting mechanisms. Design: We conducted a scoping review and publication history analysis of the principal investigators to reconstruct the funding for the R&D of the ChAdOx technology. We matched award numbers with publicly-accessible grant databases. We filed Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests to the University of Oxford for the disclosure of all grants for ChAdOx R&D. Results: We identified 100 peer-reviewed articles relevant to ChAdOx technology published between 01/2002 and 10/2020, extracting 577 mentions of funding bodies from funding acknowledgement statements. Government funders from overseas were mentioned 158 (27.4%), the U.K. government 147 (25.5%) and charitable funders 138 (23.9%) times. Grant award numbers were identified for 215 (37.3%) mentions, amounts were available in the public realm for 121 (21.0%) mentions. Based on the FOIs, until 01/2020, the European Commision (34.0%), Wellcome Trust (20.4%) and CEPI (17.5%) were the biggest funders of ChAdOx R&D. From 01/2020, the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care was the single largest funder (89.3%). The identified R&D funding was GBP104,226,076 reported in the FOIs, and GBP228,466,771 reconstructed from the literature search. Conclusions: Our study identified that public funding accounted for 97.1-99.0% of the funding towards the R&D of ChAdOx and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. We furthermore encountered a severe lack of transparency in research funding reporting mechanisms.

Structural violence and the biomedical innovation system: what responsibility do universities have in ensuring access to health technologies?

“…Despite ensuring that it is one of the most affordable vaccines, 17 18 at least during the pandemic, by making an exclusive deal with a pharmaceutical company like AstraZeneca, Oxford transferred the power over knowledge dissemination of a technology largely developed using government and charitable funding to the private sector. 21 The Oxford chimpanzee adenovirus vector (ChAdOx) vaccine platform was in an advanced development stage at the time of the technology transfer, while for the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines the privatisation of the public knowledge base happened early in the R&D process. Given this strengthened negotiation position, Oxford could have considered alternative modes of technology transfer that promote affordable access such as non-exclusive licensing to multiple pharmaceutical companies in LMICs, or putting the IP and associated knowhow into the WHO's COVID-19 Technology Access Pool.…”

Intellectual property waiver for covid-19 vaccines will advance global health equity

“…21 Decades of publicly funded research have laid the groundwork for current innovations in the background technologies used for vaccines. 22 Given that companies were granted upfront risk protection for covid-19 vaccine research and development, a waiver that advances global public health but reduces vaccine profits in a global crisis is reasonable.…”

“…Most vaccines received a substantial portion of their direct funding from governments and not-for-profit organisations—and for some, such as Moderna and Novavax, nearly all 21. Decades of publicly funded research have laid the groundwork for current innovations in the background technologies used for vaccines 22. Given that companies were granted upfront risk protection for covid-19 vaccine research and development, a waiver that advances global public health but reduces vaccine profits in a global crisis is reasonable.…”

University patenting and licensing practices in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Estimates suggest that UK universities have received between USD $118 million and $USD 169 million from the UK government for the development of COVID-19 related health technologies (Policy Cures Research, 2020;UAEM, 2021). This includes £41 and £85.5 million from the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy for the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccine development at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford respectively (Cross et al, 2021; Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy & Sharma, 2020;Scheuber & O'Hare, 2020).…”

“…However, concerns remain regarding global equitable access to health technologies that have been developed at UK universities using significant public funding (Cross et al, 2021;Keestra, 2021;McDonagh, 2021;Pepperrell et al, 2021).…”